


This Summer

by LittleAgr0n



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-03-09 05:40:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3238391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleAgr0n/pseuds/LittleAgr0n
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel goes camping with her dads every summer. This year, her neighbour is Quinn Fabray. Can they both still enjoy their holiday even when the person they hate most is there right next door?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Neighbours

Rachel Berry loved camping. The majority of the time she was very high maintenance but once or twice a year, she went camping with her fathers and loved every minute of it. They always went to the same place. It took a day to get there by car but it was worth the journey. It was huge. Rachel had never seen a campsite that big before. There was one massive flat field where everyone pitched their tents, with picnic tables in the middle, and it was surrounded by woodland. Slightly down the hill were the facilities. For a campsite they were very modern, clean and hygienic. It ticked all the boxes for Rachel. Then further down the hill was tennis courts, a Frisbee pitch and a volleyball court. Further down the hill again, was a massive U shaped lake, the banks of which were frequented by sunbathers. You could go swimming in the lake or hire a peddalo for an hour or so. Then, for the evenings, there were campfire sites around the lake for the campers.   
Normally Rachel planned their journey so that they could get there in the least amount of time. This year, however, the Berrys got there ahead of Rachel’s explicit schedule. There was a maximum of three toilet stops as well as half an hour for lunch given for leeway. The Berry men didn’t mind the tight plan, though, as it meant they had more time to relax at the other end.

Leroy drove the car up the track and parked the car just behind where their reserved pitches were. Rachel took the pitch closest to the facilities and her fathers took the one to the right of it. There were tents on both sides of them. Perhaps it would be the summer to meet new people and make new friends. 

As her fathers struggled to put their tent up, Rachel put her dull golden two man one up. She smoothed down her groundsheet and threw her bed roll containing her sleeping bag, pillow and mat before going to help Hiram and Leroy. After ten years of camping, you’d think they would’ve learnt how to pitch their tent. But no, every year since she was seven, Rachel helped her dads put up their tent when she was done with hers. Once it was up, Rachel announced she was going to use the facilities and strolled down the familiar path to the toilets.

There seemed to be quite a few more tents this year than usual so it wasn’t surprising that all the toilet cubicles were full. Thankfully Rachel didn’t have to wait long and she got ready to move forward when she heard the first lock unlock. What she wasn’t expecting, however, was for Quinn Fabray to walk out of the cubicle. The brunette swallowed her shock. Her holidays wouldn’t be ruined by Quinn as well as her school life. She nodded politely to the blonde, offering a small smile as she made her way into the toilet. What was it with her and Quinn always bumping into each other in bathrooms? Not to worry. There were more important things to worry about; namely avoiding Quinn during their holidays. The lake was pretty big, it’d be hard to go for the same spot there. She could learn Quinn’s morning and evening schedule so as to miss her then. The chance of them both meeting too frequently in a campsite that size was pretty much second to none. Rachel concluded she should be okay and would be able to enjoy her annual family holiday. 

Coming out of the cubicle, Rachel was shocked to see Quinn still stood there. She smiled at Quinn once more and moved to wash her hands but Quinn stepped in front of her before she could reach the sink. The toilets were empty now. Rachel found herself wondering if anyone would be able to hear her if she screamed. They probably would. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to resort to that though. Her thoughts were brought to a halt when she heard Quinn’s voice. “Listen, Berry. It would be best for both of us if you stay out of my way. I don’t want to see your ugly face on holiday. As it is, I see it enough at school. So here’s how it’s going to go. You’re not going to come anywhere near me in our time here. Seeing you will ruin my holiday and if you ruin mine, I’ll have no problem with ruining yours. Keep away from me, Man Hands.” And with that rather aggressive confrontation, Quinn span on her heel and was gone. 

Rachel let out a sigh and washed her hands. She really hoped this holiday would be better than how it started.  
The tiny diva strode back to her tent, head held high. She wasn’t going to let her fathers find out about Quinn being here if she could help it. As she got closer, she recognised a blonde figure bent over by the blue tent next to hers. Rachel groaned inwardly. This was just her luck. She facepalmed. Her facepalm was possibly a bit too loud as it triggered the turning of the cheerleader’s head. Rachel made her way into her tent and if looks could kill, Quinn would be guilty of murdering Rachel there and then. The blonde stormed out of the field and down the hill. Rachel didn’t bother checking where Quinn had gone. 

Rachel was disturbed from her reading as she felt her tent being shaken. It seemed a rather angry shake so Rachel thought it was safe to assume it was Quinn. She put her bookmark in between the book’s pages and went outside to greet her fellow glee clubber. “According to the man at reception there are no more pitches free that have two next to each other. So, unfortunately, you can’t move away from me. Here’s the deal. You’re going to stay quiet, I don’t want to hear your annoying voice any more than I want to see your face. Just don’t come anywhere near me, hobbit.” The words were viciously spat. Rachel thought it was silly. Of course she’d stay away from Quinn. She didn’t want her holiday being ruined either. She’d planned to steer clear of the head cheerio as much as she could to start with. Rachel shook her head and went back in her tent to read before she was called out for dinner.

Soon enough Rachel heard her fathers calling her. It wasn’t about dinner being ready though. Her fathers’ muffled shouting sounded like something about helping their new neighbours. Unfortunately Rachel had heard right. The Fabrays couldn’t get their fire to set alight. Her fathers couldn’t either. That wasn’t exactly a surprise. Quinn not being able to start it, however, was. So Rachel wandered over, rearranged the kindle so that the dry leaves and dry grass was beneath the small twigs. Rachel moved the larger sticks to the side. She struck a match, held it so the dry matter lit up and she dropped the match. Even after a year, she hadn’t gone rusty. “That should burn nicely. If it’s struggling to stay alight then add some more dry grass and leaves, then build it up with some more small twigs. Blow oxygen on it to make it burn better. If there’s smoke but you can’t see any fire, don’t worry, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Just keep blowing oxygen onto it until it’s burning again. After that you should be okay. Once it’s burning nicely, you can start to put on the larger sticks and begin cooking.” Rachel nods when she’d finished and looks up to see Mrs Fabray looking at her in awe, her dads pulling mocking faces and Quinn looking vaguely impressed.

“Thank you so much, my dear.” 

“It’s not a problem, Mrs Fabray. It was my pleasure, I’m always happy to help.”

“Call me Judy, dear.” Judy smiled at the small girl and turned to her daughter. “Aren’t you going to thank your friend, Quinnie?”

Rachel almost scoffed. Friend? No way. She was the opposite.

“Thank you, Rachel.” Quinn got out through gritted teeth. 

Rachel would’ve laughed if she didn’t know she’d regret it immediately. Instead, Rachel just smiled and nodded. She seemed to do that a lot around Quinn.

Thankfully it was now time for Rachel to have her tea so her and her fathers bid their goodbyes and went in front of their tents to eat their vegan substitute hot dogs as a family. Soon after she’d finished, Rachel retired to bed. It had been a long day.


	2. Day One

Rachel woke up feeling oddly refreshed. She didn’t usually sleep well when camping. Maybe this would become a regular thing. She hoped so. According to her watch, it was eight o’clock. The brunette could just about hear her father’s quiet murmurs so they must be awake too. Poking her head around the corner of the tent, she saw Hiram and Leroy sat in their camping chairs, their hands wrapped around hot cups of tea chatting with Judy. It was really quite sweet. Rachel was glad her fathers had made a friend. They rarely got the chance to. She was really very happy until she realised that Judy was Quinn’s mother and Quinn would not like Mrs Fabray’s new found friends. Rachel groaned. This could be disastrous.

Instead of dwelling on the new friendship and the possible outcomes for herself, Rachel made her bed roll. Bed rolls were very important, when camping. Should it rain or should the water condense onto her sleeping bag, sleeping would be very difficult due to the coldness of it. It was far more beneficial to take a minute out of your morning, tightly wrapping your bedding in an extra groundsheet, Rachel thought. She’d have to check her fathers had followed her instructions. They probably had. Rachel’s fathers rarely gave her the chance to say “I told you so”.

Once she’d made her bed roll, the brunette slipped out of her pyjamas and got into her running gear. Keeping up her exercise regime, even when on holiday, was of the utmost importance.

Upon greeting her fathers and Judy, Rachel grabbed herself a slice of bread and buttered it with margarine. When it was appropriate to do so, she joined in conversation politely before she excused herself, washed her breakfast down with water and started off to where she would run.

Today would be quite a short run; probably only twenty minutes. There were plenty of routes in the woods she could take and each day she would go slightly further to build up her stamina. Though it was crucial to look where you were going so as not to run into anything or trip over things, Rachel often found herself getting distracted. Like it had been quite often recently, her mind was focused on Quinn. Would the blonde be nicer to her here than at school? Granted, so far it hadn’t been much better but perhaps it might improve. Quinn had set out her rules so now she felt in control. Maybe soon she would realise that she really doesn’t have to act that way here. She has no image to uphold. It won’t make her any less popular to be slightly kinder to Rachel. In fact, it may even be better for her. Less energy would be wasted on anger. Plus, with her mother so close by, the cheerio might not be so mean. Rachel could only wait and see. Though she definitely wouldn’t hold her breath.

It was time to end her run and so Rachel slowed her pace as she jogged back to her tent. She grabbed her wash bag along with a towel and a spare change of clothes that she’d left out earlier. She could go for a shower and then brush her teeth.

On the way to the shower, Rachel passed Quinn who seemed to have just had a shower, herself. The blonde barely acknowledged the small brunette. All Rachel got was a look up and down her body. At least it wasn’t a disapproving one like those she was so used to receiving from Quinn. It still made her feel self-conscious, though. She’d just been on a run, she probably looked awful. Why couldn’t she look more like Quinn? Quinn was the prettiest girl she’d ever met. Her face was practically perfect and, even during cheerios, it seemed she never broke into a sweat. It wasn’t fair.

 Actually, Rachel didn’t look half bad. Her cheeks were only slightly rosy and she was barely sweating. Rachel looked quite hot. Little did she know, that was the one thing Quinn noticed about Rachel in their passing a few moments ago.

After her shower, Rachel dropped off her running clothes back at the tent before going for a wander to see if she recognised anyone around or if there was anything new around. Unfortunately, she didn’t see anyone she knew or see anything that wasn’t there the year before. Her growling stomach prompted her to stop her wanders and meet her fathers for lunch. They were just going to have some sandwiches because they only had bread and some Quorn slices. After settling in slightly, it was time to go shopping.

Halfway through their shop, Rachel’s fathers enquired who the people staying next door to them are. They thought they recognised the girl from somewhere but they can’t place who she is. “Oh, you’ll have seen her in our glee performances.”

“Oh, so she’s a friend of yours?” Hiram asked.

Rachel looked slightly uncomfortable but tried her best not to show it. “I wouldn’t call her a friend. She’s more of an associate. The daughter is Quinn Fabray.”

Leroy gasped. “Quinn Fabray? _The_ Quinn? The one who’s tormented you since you started at McKinley?”

“The one who got pregnant?” Hiram prompted.

“The very same.” Rachel looked down and her parents tried to comfort her.

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. We didn’t know. We can stop being friends with Judy if it makes things easier for you?”

“We’ll do exactly that. We wouldn’t have befriended her if we were aware of whom her daughter was.”

“No, Dad and Daddy. Though it is incredibly kind and selfless of you to offer such an act, I couldn’t let you do that. You’re getting along so well and I wouldn’t want to break up the start of a new friendship.” Rachel assured her fathers. “Besides, just because you’re friends doesn’t mean that I have to be anywhere near Quinn. She’s been much nicer after her pregnancy, though.” That last part wasn’t exactly untrue. She hadn’t been nice. Just nicer. Rachel hadn’t been the victim of as many slushies since.

“Only if you’re sure, sweetheart.” Leroy checked and smiled when his daughter nodded vigorously. “Wonderful. Thank you. I think we have everything. Let’s go to the check out.”

And so the Berrys bought their food and other supplies before making the half an hour journey back to the campsite.

As Hiram, Leroy and Rachel were unloading all their purchases into their camping fridge, Judy wandered over to them, asking if they wanted to join her and Quinn for dinner. So as not to appear rude, the Berrys complied, telling Judy that it may be difficult, however, as Rachel follows a vegan diet. Apparently that was no problem as Quinn had already warned her and so she had vegan substitutes for everything. Rachel was shocked. Quinn had listened to Rachel? And she remembered? Wow. Maybe Quinn might turn into someone new this holiday after all.

Dinner with the Fabrays was not how Rachel imagined it at all. She thought it would be quite a sombre deal when, in fact, it was the complete opposite. Her fathers were having a whale of a time and it seemed that Judy was too. Side-glances at Quinn informed Rachel that the blonde smiled softly and so must be enjoying herself too, somewhat. At first it had been rather awkward between the two of them but after a while they relaxed. Perhaps the beer that was now in Rachel helped a little. Currently, Judy was telling of an experience she’d had with a child at the day care she now worked at. According to her, a child was playing catch with his friend as Judy was watching over them. His friend made an awful throw and it trickled along the floor to about a foot from the boy. The friend had said “I’m sorry that wasn’t a very good throw” and the boy replied with “No, it was a wonderful throw.” Then walked up to Judy, incredibly proudly, and said “I’m trying to be polite. That’s when we say something nice, even if we don’t mean it, isn’t it?” The adults all laughed in unison but for some reason it was the funniest thing that Rachel had ever heard and she couldn’t stop giggling. It was contagious and Quinn soon caught on. They had tears running down their cheeks but couldn’t for the life of them explain why they’d found it so funny. Their parents had stopped watching them, they’d been laughing so long.

Rachel wiped under her eyes, trying to hold back the giggles that were threatening to come out. Quinn did the same. They made eye contact and everything flipped. Both of them lost all needs to laugh and ducked their heads to look at their laps. It was back to being awkward all over again. Quinn suddenly announced she was going to bed as she didn’t sleep very well the night before. When Quinn went, Rachel told everyone that she was going to retire to her bed too. First, though, Judy requested that she make friends with Quinn. The Mother felt so helpless in not being able to do something about her daughter’s loneliness. Rachel accepted the request and left the adults to enjoy the rest of the evening together.


	3. Frisbee

The second morning started exactly like the first. Rachel woke up to hear her fathers and Judy talking. Rachel groaned when she remembered how the night before ended. Maybe Quinn had forgotten. She doubted it. Still, Rachel could only hope for the best. The brunette hopped out of her sleeping bag, threw on her swimming costume under her running gear and went outside to say good morning. This time Quinn was there. Thankfully she didn’t seem too angry and even gave Rachel a little smile. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.

Rachel flopped down on a chair, grabbed some bread and spread some margarine on it. Pretty soon after she sat down, Rachel was gone again, ready to go for her run. Just over half an hour, she reasoned. She could easily make 5k in that time slot. So off she went.

Like any other run, Rachel did a lot of thinking. What Judy said last night had got to her. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it before. Quinn really was lonely. And sad. And it was heart breaking. Rachel cursed herself for not having noticed it earlier. Of course there was a reason for her lashing out. Maybe not all of the blame could be put on loneliness and sadness but they could account for a lot of it. Suddenly Rachel wanted nothing more than to become Quinn’s friend and help her. A friend would do Quinn a world of good and Rachel wanted to be the one to do it.

The diva’s run ended at the edge of the lake at the bottom of the hill. It really was huge. Even with all the peddaloes and people in there already, there was still plenty of room for a swim. So Rachel stripped out of her clothes, leaving her in a bikini. She placed her folded clothes under a rock so they wouldn’t blow away and dived into the water off the pier to begin her swim.

In her haste to get in the water, Rachel hadn’t noticed Quinn laid on a sunbed. Quinn, however, had definitely noticed Rachel. And damn. Maybe Quinn had judged Rachel a bit too much on the clothes she normally wore. Right now she looked great. Hot, even. To be fair, though, throughout the holiday so far, Rachel had been wearing pretty normal clothes. Shorts and a t-shirt or shorts and a vest top with a flannel shirt on over the top, unbuttoned. If she wore those kinds of clothes at school, Quinn thought, she’d get a lot of male attention. Probably some female attention too. Not that it would be from her. At all. Quinn wasn’t gay. She just had a strong appreciation for the female form. Everyone did, right?

Quinn was brought out of her daydream by the woman who put her in it. Rachel was now getting out of the water and she had beads of water running down her which glistened in the sun and she just looked so flawless. The blonde caught herself staring, snapped out of it and went back to her book. It was going to be hard to see Rachel the same way again. Okay so maybe she had found her attractive before now and didn’t actually mind the diva most of the time. She just had a certain image to uphold and Rachel would, if Quinn let her, break it down single-handedly. That image was gone for summer, though. Perhaps Quinn could be her normal self. It was only Rachel. Even if she did say things at school, she wouldn’t be believed. Finally, she could be herself without having to worry about having anything to lose. She could relax. This might just be her best holiday.

Having left the lake, Rachel had gone for a shower and joined her fathers for lunch. Now bored, she complained to her fathers and they suggested looking at the camp timetable. They were bound to have some activities and competitions on that Rachel could join. And that’s exactly what she did. Unbeknownst to her, Quinn had been sent to do the exact same thing in the morning.

Down at the hut just up from the lake, Rachel took in the activities that she’d be able to do. There was all sorts from canoeing to hiking to rock climbing to pioneering. However, Rachel chose to do three ones that were different to those mentioned. That afternoon there was going to be an ultimate frisbee competition so she put her name down for that. Then, she signed up for volleyball and tennis which would be on in the next week or so. Happy with her choices, Rachel walked back up to her tent to tell her fathers what she’d signed up for. She was so excited. This could be her chance to make new friends. And, of course, to prove that she could win anything. Having said everything she could on the subject, Rachel retired to a spot in the shade of the woods behind the Berry tents with her iPod and book until it was time to make her way down to the frisbee pitch.

Rachel had left herself fifteen minutes to get down there. It was just the right amount of time. She wasn’t late, nor was she too early. Really it was just perfect planning on her behalf. When she got down there, there were quite a few people milling around, waiting for it to start. Soon enough, they were all called onto the field so teams could be sorted out. In an attempt to make it fair, everyone had to stand in height order (that made Rachel huff) so they could be numbered one to four. Rachel was a number four and went to greet her team. They went over names so they could shout someone during the game. Her team had one less than the others but she wouldn’t let that be a disadvantage. Her team, whatever it would be named, would win.

The fourth team was made up of two other girls and four guys. The girls were Claudia, a tall, beautiful girl of 17 with tanned skin and long, straight brunette hair and Scarlett, a slightly smaller girl, pale and freckled. She was 16 and had a blonde pixie cut. The boys were Fuad, a mixed race boy of 17 with hair so perfect it looked like the angels themselves had put each hair in place and he was the tallest of the team at 6’5”, Julian, a shy boy also of 17 whose brunette hair curled around and around, Danny, the eldest of them all at 19 had kind blue eyes which made everyone feel welcome and Theo, the shortest male on the team being just taller than Rachel but with an afro that made him seem so much taller.

Once introductions were made, the organisers called for silence to announce the names of each team. The names had been written down by the campers, many of which were male adolescents, and were being picked out of a hat. This could be hilarious or awful. Teenage males naming teams was a recipe for disaster. Rachel was cringing before they were even said aloud. The first name came and was Superheroes in Training. That wasn’t too bad, Rachel thought. Perhaps the names would be fine this year. Team number two was christened as Wii Not Fit. Rachel thought she could easily come up with something much funnier than that. It was pathetic. Next was team number three now dubbed as Multiple Scoregasms. That’s the kind of name she was expecting. Her expectancy didn’t stop her from groaning when she heard it, though. Now she was dreading what her team would be called. What she heard was the worst name she’d ever heard. This would kill her inside. She couldn’t tell her parents what the team name was and she definitely wouldn’t be telling Quinn. It would give her too much ammunition against the diva. Rachel was in the team dubbed “The Mighty Midgets”. She wouldn’t let this get her down, though. She would live the irony. Her and her team would make it through. Rachel held her head up and strode to the side of the pitch with her team to watch the first game between Wii Not Fit and Superheroes In Training.

Rachel had to admit frisbee was an excellent sport. It was fun and not too serious and, to watch, it was really quite entertaining. She recapped the rules in her head. It was a bit like a mix of netball and American football. Kind of. Each team started in their end zone. One team would throw the frisbee to the other team to start the game. You couldn’t travel with the fisbee, just pivot. If the frisbee goes out of the area, it goes to the team which didn’t throw it. The same if the frisbee is dropped. The aim was to throw the frisbee to someone on your team who would catch it in the opposite end zone. The first to five would win the game.

Rachel was engrossed in the game, watching for tips and tactics, sharing them with her team. One-twos seemed to work well down the wings. So engrossed in the game, she didn’t notice a blonde coming up behind her.

Quinn reached out to put her hand on Rachel’s shoulder to get her attention and Rachel literally jumped onto her feet in shock. “Quinn! Hello. Uhh..” Rachel told herself to compose herself. “Can I help you with anything?”

The blonde chuckled. “Yeah, I was told to join this team as you’re one short compared to the other teams.” Quinn saw Rachel’s mouth twitch at the sides. “If that’s okay with you. I wouldn’t want to stop your-“

“Quinn, I’m going to stop you there. We may not get along very well but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t join the team. I’m sure you would be most beneficial in helping us to defeat the other teams and come out on top.” Rachel paused for a moment before bravely adding, “Though this could be the start of a new friendship if we both enjoy our time this evening.” She braced herself for an icy reply but was pleasantly surprised.

“That would be lovely, thank you. I’m going to try to be better this holiday. First, I’d like to apologise for everything I’ve done and-“

“Don’t worry about it, Quinn, all is forgiven.” Rachel beamed. Now she could befriend Quinn. She couldn’t wait.

“Oh. I uhh.. Thank you, I guess.” Quinn was clearly shocked. She knew Rachel forgave people easily but she didn’t expect it to be quite that quick. The blonde planned to fully apologise again later. For now, though, she’d enjoy the game and try to pick up the rules as she watched. It didn’t seem too complicated. She could always ask Rachel if she was confused.

Rachel introduced Quinn to the rest of the team and Claudia, Scarlett, Fuad, Julian, Danny and Theo introduced themselves. The game was brought to an end and so The Mighty Midgets got ready to start their game. It consisted of Fuad applying his lip balm and the rest of the team impatiently waiting so that they could stand in a circle, put a hand each in the middle and shout their team name on the count of three. Wii Not Fit lost so whoever won this game would be playing Superheroes In Training in the final.

The Mighty Midgets stood along their line, waiting for the announcement to be made for teams. Then, they’d be ready to start. They’d planned to let the frisbee drop where it landed when it came to them so they wouldn’t drop it first time and give it to the other team. They also would have a five metre radius where the other team wouldn’t be able to stand from the free throw.

“NOW WE HAVE TWO TEAMS WHO ARE BATTLING TO GET TO THE FINAL.” Came a loud voice from a megaphone. “THE TEAMS THIS TIME ARE THE MIGHTY MIDGETS AND MULTIPLE SCOREGASMS.”

Quinn’s jaw fell. “Rachel?” She whispered in horror. Once she had Rachel’s attention she asked, in horror, “We’re not Multiple Scoregasms are we? Because that’s really not something I want to have to tell my mum.”

Rachel almost laughed but upon remembering their actual name begrudgingly replied with “No. Unfortunately we’re The Mighty Midgets.”

With that revelation Quinn laughed with tears pouring out of her eyes. “I don’t know which is funnier.” She giggled “you or Fuad being in this team.”

Rachel smiled. She had to. Quinn had the chance to be awful to her but she didn’t take it, she joked about it in a nice way. The blonde may turn into a pleasant person to be friends with.

The whistle sounded and the game began. The mighty midgets were playing pretty well. It took both teams a while to get into it properly but they got there. One thing that Rachel was adamant about was communication. She said it would help them immensely, even if they weren’t particularly skilful. No-one really wanted to argue with her. Thankfully, they were actually quite a skilled team. Their passes were fast and accurate, most of their catches were successful and, thanks to their communication they always knew where someone was. In their first game they beat Multiple Scoregasms. It was out of three so they had at least one more game against them.

During the break, Rachel called her team over and relayed her plan to score their goals this game. “I’m going to start with positions on the pitch. Claudia and Fuad,” Rachel looked them directly in the eyes “we need height at the back so Claudia can take the right side and Fuad can take the left. If it’s anything like the last match, there’ll be no problem with one of you coming up with us, so long as the other hangs back a little.” She received nods in agreement and moved onto the midfield players. “Quinn, Danny and Scarlett, you’re going to be our midfield players. Danny,” Rachel looked to him. “Try and make as many one-twos on the wings with Quinn and Scarlett. It’s the quickest, most effective way to get up the pitch. Especially if the passes are short, quick and accurate.” Rachel moved onto Quinn and Scarlett. “You two are the ones most likely to receive the frisbee from our defence. Make leads wide and if you get the frisbee and can’t pass it forward, pass it back to the defender on your side for a transfer.” Once sure everything was understood, Rachel moved onto her plans for the forwards. “So that leaves me, Julian and Theo on the forward line. Julian, you can go centre forward. Stay high and stretch the play. You’re our best catcher so try to be in the end zone ready for a pass if you can. Theo, you and I will go on the wings. We’ll run around, losing our markers, leading and re-leading, receiving passes from the wings and passing them to Julian.” Rachel looked around at her team, seeing that they understood her plans and she believed they’d follow them. “Just remember that, communication and have fun. There’s no point winning if we don’t enjoy playing.”

“Thank you, Rachel.” Danny smiled.

“Yeah, Rach, you’re like the best captain ever.” Beamed Scarlett.

Rachel mirrored her grin and thanked Scarlett profusely.

Quinn just watched on with a content smile resting on her lips as she saw how naturally Rachel lead the team and just how well she did it. She really should’ve given her a chance before now. Alas, she’d just have to make up for missed time over their holiday.

The Mighty Midgets were 4-0 up and had the frisbee. This could be it. This could be the point at which they smash Multiple Scoregasms and win their way into the final. Claudia had intercepted a pass from the other team. She passed it through to Scarlett but the blonde had no options. She passed it back to Claudia who faked a pass through to Quinn but passed it to Fuad. Fuad passed it straight to Quinn who was waiting out wide on the wing. She passed it to Danny but the pass back was blocked so it was passed in the other direction to Claudia who had moved up with the play. She passed it square back to Danny who then passed it up to Scarlett. Scarlett passed it to Rachel and Rachel could feel the pressure. Her heart was beating the quickest she had ever felt it. This was her chance to help bring her team to victory. The brunette lined up her pass to Theo. She breathed out as she made the pass, watched it fly between two hopeless members of Multiple Soregasms straight to Theo who caught it with a shout of achievement.

Rachel couldn’t believe it. They’d made it through to the finals. She was shocked and over the moon. The diva was broken out of her gaze when Danny wrapped his arms around her and called for a group hug. Rachel was getting squished between bodies and was struggling but she didn’t mind. This was the happiest she had been in a long time. She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face and laughed with her team as they overbalanced and fell to the ground in a pile.

 To be polite, The Mighty Midgets stayed to watch the game between the losers of the last two games, Multiple Scoregasms and Wii Not Fit. They cheered for Multiple Scoregasms but celebrated when either of the teams scored. The first game was won 5-1 by Wii Not Fit. It looked as though this second game would go the same way. Wii Not Fit were in the lead with 4-1 and it looked like they might score again soon. They did and Wii Not Fit was put into third place with Multiple Scoregasms losing the competition.

Quinn had been sat behind Rachel during the game and upon seeing the final result, whispered “Multiple my ass” and Rachel couldn’t hold in her laughter. It would’t've been funny if anyone had said it but this was Quinn. Quinn Fabray who’s supposed to be all innocent. Quinn Fabray who was captain of the celibacy club. Rachel cackled and Quinn couldn’t help but join in with the laughter.

When their laughing began to cease, they walked back to their camp for tea before the final started at half nine that night.

****


	4. A Final And A Fall Out

Quinn and Rachel spent their dinner time telling their parents all about the frisbee matches. They told their parents that they didn’t have to come and watch them in the final. Thankfully they agreed. Neither Rachel nor Quinn nor Rachel wanted their parents to come as they wanted to have fun without their parents watching their every move. Besides, their parents would hear all about it afterwards.

Before the final, The Mighty Midgets chilled together just chatting.  They’d all expected Rachel to have something to say but she seemed pretty happy with how they’d played last game and said they just needed to repeat that. For now they could relax and then enjoy the game after.

The game was a close one. The Mighty Midgets had won the first game 5-3, then lost the second game 5-4. Both teams had scored four goals and it was next goal winner. Quinn had the frisbee and she could see a clear pass to Danny. If they were quick enough, they could do one-twos all the way up the wing and score that way. It was worth a try. She called the tactic and they went for it. The last pass from Quinn to Danny was blocked off. The blonde pivoted and saw a small brunette who was open. She threw it crisply and Rachel caught it with no trouble. Quinn smiled as she saw Rachel look at the frisbee in her hands in shock before peeling out in laughter. They’d won.

Before Quinn could stop herself, she ran towards Rachel, picked the brunette up and span her around, jovially cheering “WE DID IT RACH! WE WON!” Not too sure how to respond, Rachel just laughed with the blonde and relaxed. The blonde put Rachel down and The Mighty Midgets shouted three cheers for Superheroes In Training along with another for good play and then threw themselves into a group hug.

In celebration, The Mighty Midgets decided they would spend the rest of the night, until they returned to their tents to sleep, around a campfire. Danny brought a couple of packs of beers and Scarlett brought down chocolate digestives and marshmallows so they could make smores. Rachel dashed up to her tent to get her own vegan-friendly smore ingredients.

At first, they all just sat there talking, learning more about each other. Claudia and Quinn were getting along well next to Rachel. They were discussing their favourite pieces of literature while Rachel was in a heated debate with Theo about whether Julie Andrews was better in The Sound of Music or in Mary Poppins. Theo defended Mary Poppins to the grave while Rachel thought it was absurd that anything other than The Sound of Music was her best work.

As the alcohol began to flow, everyone relaxed more and more. They’d been joined by a few fellow campers who had asked to join in on the fun. Seeing that Louis, a tall, cute, Greek Cypriot with brunet hair tied in a bun was carrying a ukulele, Rachel immediately invited him and his three friends over. It was only a matter of time before she asked Louis to play something so they could all sing along. He readily agreed and seemed to know how to play a variety of songs. He started off with Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl. That made Rachel happy. Soon enough, she’d encouraged Quinn to join in with her. Everyone listened happily to the first song and marvelled at how good Quinn and Rachel were singing together and how well their voices complimented each other. From then, though, everyone joined in on the songs they knew. Rachel tried to get everyone to join in with Hey Soul Sister but it just ended up with people collapsing with giggles because they couldn’t seem to get the right words out.

It was beginning to get late and The Mighty Midgets and their new friends began to collect their stuff together to go back to their tents. They were aware of how loud they were being and they knew how sound carried there.

Quinn and Rachel bid their goodbyes to everyone and they began making their way up the hill to their tents. It seemed that the alcohol had gone straight to Rachel’s head and so Rachel leant on Quinn the entire way up. That wasn’t the most stable, though, as Quinn was also rather tipsy. It took them twice as long to get back as usual because the pair couldn’t seem to keep upright. Once they reach the tents, they hug and bid each other, a rather loud, goodnight.

Rachel stumbled into her tent, zipped it all up and promptly fell asleep on top of her makeshift bed. Quinn, on the other hand, lay awake for a while, replaying the night’s events in her head and smiling to herself.

Morning came and the both of them woke up trying to conceal their obvious dehydration. They talked quietly together during breakfast, still not quite awake yet. A quarter of an hour later, Rachel left Quinn to go for a run.

Having showered after her exercise, Rachel returned to camp and asked Judy where Quinn was.

“She’s gone down to the lake, honey. She’ll still be there as she took her book. Quinn can read for the world.” Rachel thanked Quinn’s mother and left for the lake to try and seek out Quinn.

Rachel tries to be calm when she walks to the lake. It was hard to stop herself skipping down though because she made friends with Quinn Fabray. Her life wouldn’t be as bad anymore. She wouldn’t have to worry about bullying from the main perpetrator. This was the start to a new, happier life.

As she got closer, Rachel realised that Quinn was sat with Claudia. The brunette smiled. It was nice to see Quinn being herself with a friend. “Hey guys!” Rachel greeted.

“Hey!” Replied Claudia.

“Hi and bye, Berry. I’m having fun with my _friend._ Now leave.” Spat Quinn.

Rachel tried her best to hide the hurt in her eyes but failed miserably. She’d honestly thought that Quinn had changed for the better. Obviously Rachel was wrong. Whatever, she thought. She was going to have fun on this holiday. She wasn’t going to let Quinn ruin it. With a set jaw, Rachel turned and walked with purpose to where the bikes were kept. Exercise would get rid of her anger and she’d feel much better after. So off she went and cycled until her legs ached from the constant pedalling.

After another shower, Rachel returned to her tent. After a few moments of sitting in there, her parents called to her, saying that a friend was there for her. She replied sharply. “If it’s Quinn, tell her that I don’t want to talk to her now. I shall speak to her tomorrow.”

“No, darling, it’s not Quinn. I believe it’s one of the girls you played frisbee with.” Rachel heard some murmuring. “Yes it is. Her name is Claudia.”

“Okay, Daddy, I’ll come out. We’ll go somewhere private.” Rachel crawled out of her tent and greeted Claudia. She motioned towards the woods behind her tent where they could walk and talk.

They made small talk until they were sure they were alone and Claudia told Rachel why she was there. “We need to talk-”

“I know that. That’s why you came here.”

“Rachel, just let me finish.”

“Okay. Sorry.” Rachel apologised, looking sheepish.

“We need to talk about Quinn.”

Rachel opened her mouth to argue but closed it, aware that she’d promised, just seconds ago, that she’d let Claudia speak.

“After she snapped at you earlier today I was very confused. You two seemed to be like besties at frisbee and around the campfire. So I poked her and pushed her to find out what had happened. She wasn’t particularly happy about it but she told me enough for me to understand. It seems that she really does like you, Rachel. She’s just unsure as to how to act around you. Her father has always been against your family for his religious reasons and Quinn is having a hard time shaking off the feeling that he’s going to come and mistreat her for it.

“She also mentioned about how she treats you in school. That stems from the same fear. She wants to stop. But she’s spent so long pretending to hate you that it’s become a reflex reaction. I realise that’s an awful attempt at an excuse. I think it’s pathetic. But she is trying, Rachel.” Claudia smiled and prodded Rachel in the side teasingly. “You can speak now.”

“She’s pretty much stopped with the bullying, you know?” Rachel smiled softly. “Besides, I forgave her a long time ago.”

Claudia clapped the small brunette on the back. “Well then, it seems all you two need to do now is have a little chat and get everything out in the open.” She grinned. “All you need to take with you is an open ear and Quinn’ll be fine, I promise.”

Rachel thanked Claudia and turned back to start back towards her tent.

“Wait!” Claudia called. She jogged up to where Rachel was. “Just maybe sleep on it tonight. Then you can talk tomorrow and hopefully all the anger leftover from today will be gone.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” Rachel admitted. “Would you like to join me and my fathers for dinner tonight? We have burgers.” Her megawatt grin was back on her face again.

Claudia looked apologetic. “I really wish I could but my brother wants to go for a night hike so I have to get back.”

The brunette’s grin only dropped slightly. “No matter.” Seeing that they were nearing Rachel’s tent, Rachel began her goodbye. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“That’d be nice.” Claudia beamed and the pair went in their separate directions.


	5. Apologies And A Day By The Lake

Breakfast the next morning was quite an awkward affair. Both Quinn and Rachel sat eating their food in silence. Each of them sneaked glances at the other, though neither noticed the other doing so. Rachel wondered if perhaps it was only awkward for them or if their awkwardness was mistaken for something else, as their parents were acting as if nothing was unusual. They were in comfortable, flowing conversation as though they’d known each other for years. It was a strange thing to be involved with but Rachel shook it off. All of this stuff would hopefully have washed over by the time afternoon, providing Rachel got the chance to speak to Quinn.

As Rachel was finishing up, she quietly asked Quinn if they could have a chat. Quinn agreed with a short nod and the pair politely excused themselves from the makeshift breakfast table.

They walked in silence until they found a lone tree in the field, creating enough shade for them to be in a comfortable heat, and they sat underneath it. “I’m assuming this is about yesterday?” Quinn asked.

“It is. Claudia came to talk to me about it yesterday and I have agreed that I will listen to everything you say. Then when you’ve finished, and only when you’ve finished, I shall allow myself to talk.” Rachel nodded as if to show the end to her point.

“Rachel, you don’t have to stop talking. You’re allowed to ask questions if you have any. Which I’m sure you will.” Quinn smiled. In past years – even months – she would have made her last comment sound bitter and harsh. Now it was said gently, with warmth.

“While that may be the case, I wish to stay silent.” Rachel was well aware that should she fall to Quinn’s suggestion, she would do a lot more talking than what would be necessary. She reminded herself that this conversation was for Quinn to carry, not her. So she set her jaw, ready to listen and not to interrupt the blonde.

Quinn studied Rachel’s determined face for a moment before beginning. There was something sure behind her eyes. It was almost believing, as though Rachel already knew anything. She seemed familiar. Quinn found that it made it easier for her to speak to the small diva. “This is my attempt at an apology. I’m going to try my best to explain everything. Though the explanations may turn into excuses, I will try to keep them separate. You might see them as the same thing, though. And that’s okay. To most people explanations are the same as excuses. But mine aren’t. I am aware that the things I’ve done are completely inexcusable. I just want you to see what I’d fooled myself to believe.”

Rachel listened intently. The way Quinn spoke intrigued her. Being honest with herself, she could listen to the blonde speak all day. She had a voice as smooth as butter. Rachel wasn’t just listening to the sound of her voice, though. The small girl was also listening to her words. Mr Schue was probably paid less attention by Rachel than Quinn. As Rachel listened, she began to understand the blonde a bit more.

“I’ll start from where the beginning. Where everything probably started. One day, I came back from kindergarten and I told my dad that there was a girl in my class who was really pretty and kind and I told him that I really wanted to be friends with her. He was happy for me and even asked if I wanted to bring her around. Then I told him that her name was Rachel Berry.” Quinn looked up and could see the shock on Rachel’s face. She could also see the brunette trying her best to hold in her itch to ask questions. Quinn was impressed with the brunette’s restraint. “As you’re well aware, my father is a very religious man. A religious man who, of course, had heard all about the gay couple in his neighbourhood. His face turned to stone and I was banned from so much as speaking to you. I didn’t really understand then. I just knew that I shouldn’t go against what my dad told me. So I did what he said. And I saw and heard the things he said and did and I copied him.” Quinn’s face shifted. It had been hard and set while she was talking about her father but now it had softened. “It’s taken me a long time to shake my father’s view. I’m trying to be better. I promise. I don’t know how obvious it is, though. Sometime in the last six months I’ve begun to see religion from my own point of view. I’ve been able to read the Bible and interpret it without seeing my dad’s views. I’ve seen how and why he thinks what he does. But I also know the Bible isn’t meant to be taken literally, nor was it written with modern day society in view.

“I know where my faults are. And I’m trying my absolute best to fix them. But it takes a long time to unlearn what you’ve been told for the entirety of your life, no matter how long or short that may be. Which explains my blip yesterday.

“What I’m trying to say is, I know how awful I’ve been in the past. Now I understand why I did what I did so now I can work through it. I’ll never be perfect, Rachel. But can I just ask you to see what I’m trying to do?” Quinn looked at Rachel, hoping that she would understand.

What came out of Rachel’s mouth wasn’t the thing she imagined would come out. “I never hated you for what you did, you know?” Rachel had thought she’d just mutter an affirmative as she did indeed understand what Quinn was saying. However, seeing how much the cheerio hated herself through her eyes, Rachel felt the need to try to comfort the blonde without overstepping boundaries.

Quinn was taken aback. Just like Rachel, out of all the things to come out of Rachel Berry’s mouth that was the last thing she’d expected.

“I forgave you a long time ago, Quinn.” Rachel spoke sincerely. “It’s okay.” She gave a small smile, reassuring the blonde.

“I-” Quinn stammered. “Thank you. I really don’t deserve it. But thank you.”

“Nonsense.” Smiled Rachel. Then she went back to being deadly serious. “That doesn’t mean you can slack off though. You need to try and be the better person you really are. If you’re not putting the effort in, I won’t be happy. And I won’t forgive you as easily. I like to give people a second chance but you really have to work for it. Are we understood?”

Quinn nodded curtly. Of course she would do that.

Rachel smiled gently, happy that Quinn was going to try. “Now, would you like to join me on my morning run?”

Quinn smiled. “I’d love to.” As the blonde got up, she shook her head slightly in disbelief. That conversation had gone a million times better than she thought it would. And surprisingly there were no complications. Quinn was beginning to see a lovely side to Rachel. A side that she kicked herself for not allowing her to see before. She only wished people at school would begin to notice it a bit more now they were, hopefully, maturing.

“Great! Let’s go get our running stuff on and then meet outside our tents in five!” And with that they split up to change into clothes more suitable for exercise.

Five minutes later exactly, Rachel was waiting outside Quinn’s tent, calling for the blonde. Rachel was only wearing tight three-quarter length bottoms and a sports bra as it was a pretty hot day already, despite it only being mid-morning. Quinn came out wearing a tight fitting vest top and bicycle shorts. The brunette greeted the blonde, subtly raking her eyes up and down Quinn’s figure. What she didn’t know, however, was Quinn was doing the same to her. Their parents had noticed, though. And it took all their might to not make a comment about it. Hiram was struggling to keep his drink down him without coughing it out in laughter about how obvious it was yet how seemingly oblivious the two girls were.

They walked towards the wood trails and Rachel dragged Quinn to a map to show where they were going to run. “Okay so we’ll take the blue route. I know the way anyway but there’ll be signposts telling us which way to go just in case. It’s about 8k. Reckon you can handle it?” The tiny diva jibed.

“Oh I’ll be fine.” Quinn smirked. “I’m just worried you won’t be able to keep up.” She teased, feeling confident that her cheerios practice will have kept her fit.

“Oh I guarantee that won’t be a problem.” Rachel grinned and took off, leaving Quinn stood by the map.

“Hey! No cheating!” Quinn called as she sprinted to catch up with the brunette.

Rachel just turned around, smirking. “Keep, up Fabray.”

Quinn just shook her head. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad.

Twenty minutes into their run and Quinn was surprised at Rachel’s stamina. The brunette was running at a speed that Quinn had to try really quite hard to keep up with. Not to mention, Rachel seemed to be able to have full conversations without even sounding breathless. Quinn was amazed. “I take it back.”

Rachel looked incredibly confused. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips turned down slightly at the edges. “Take what back?”

“Teasing you about you not being able to keep up with me. How on earth do you run so fast and be able to have a conversation without sounding remotely breathless? It’s unnatural, Rachel.” Quinn was actually in awe. And incredibly breathless.

“Well, what you don’t know is that I’ve run at least 5k two or three times a week and 10k every weekend for about five years. I found out, from researching how to improve my stamina that you’re supposed to run at a speed where you can speak properly. The more I ran, the easier it became and the faster I could run without being completely out of breath. It all comes with practice.” Rachel beamed. She wasn’t going to tell anyone but her athleticism was something she was really quite proud of. Especially because she only did it as a hobby.

“Well, I’m impressed. You could probably beat most of the cheerios when it comes to suicides.” Really Quinn thought that Rachel would beat all of them, definitely including her. There was no way in heaven or hell that she was going to give the tiny brunette that ego boost, though.

Rachel smirked in response. “So, do you want to turn it up a notch? There’ll only be about fifteen minutes left.” If you asked Rachel honestly, why she was cranking it up a notch, she would tell you that she just wanted to test Quinn’s fitness. It was for her own personal gain to see if she could beat the blonde. While some would see that as selfish, Rachel just saw it as competitiveness. She wanted to be the best at everything she did.

Quinn looked at Rachel in disbelief. The blonde could barely keep up with Rachel as it was. But she didn’t want to show any weakness so she agreed anyway.

At the end of their run, Quinn thanked God that it was over. Had she needed to run much further, she probably would’ve collapsed in a heap on the floor. Her and Rachel stretched, cooled down and walked back to their tents to get clean clothes and toiletries, then they went to shower.

For lunch, Quinn asked Rachel if she wanted to go for a picnic by the lake. Rachel agreed and suggested asking Claudia, Fuad and Julian to join them. So Quinn and Rachel packed a bag full of sandwiches and packets of crisps as well as a few bottles of fizzy drinks to carry down. Claudia’s tent was closest to theirs so they called on her first, then Julian and then Fuad. Julian relived Quinn and Rachel of carrying the heavy picnic bag by pulling the straps over his shoulder. He was substantially bigger than the two girls and physically stronger so carried it as if it weighed nothing.

After their food, they all decided to just chill in the sun by the lake while they let their food go down. The heat mixed with their heavy stomachs lulled them all into a short nap. Fuad was the first to wake up and he grinned, an idea popping into his head. To the side of him was an empty bucket. Everyone was in swimming gear and there were no electronic items anywhere. Throwing water over sleeping bodies was a perfect way to wake everyone up. He got up slowly, ginning at his awful idea, and treaded carefully to the water’s surface. The boy carefully filled the bucket up, trying his best to make as little sound as possible. Then he tiptoed out towards his friends. He knew he’d regret it at some point, though. Surely one of them would get him back one way or another. Fuad pushed those thoughts out of his head. This would be worth it. Standing over his friends, he threw the water over them and he was met with piercing screams.

He was taken aback when Claudia stood up, a mysterious glint in her eyes. Then he became slightly afraid when he saw Quinn follow suit. Quinn scared him. There was something about her that made him really not want to get on her bad side. The two girls ran after him, chasing him into the lake only to dunk him under the water’s surface. Claudia grinned and high fived Quinn as they walked back out of the water, leaving Fuad to make his own way out.

The group mutually agreed that there was no point in drying off. They’d just spend the remainder of their afternoon in the lake. First, they decided that they’d grab a peddalo between them and take it for a spin.

Quinn found she felt more relaxed around Rachel and around her new friends. She felt as though Rachel wouldn’t judge her, and her new friends only knew her as the real Quinn, not the HBIC cheerleader Quinn. It was nice. She also noticed that Rachel too seemed a lot more relaxed as well. It was nice. Quinn also found herself fully enjoying Rachel’s company. The brunette was lovely and actually really quite funny when you got to know her. She wasn’t too bad to look at, either.

Rachel was having similar thoughts. She watched as Julian and Fuad pedalled the boat out into the lake. The brunette felt relaxed and happy. And she was surrounded by friends. It was a surprise to her that Quinn was also a friend. The blonde was actually a pleasant person to be around. And she had the quickest wit ever. Completely dead-pan and she was hilarious. Quinn seemed to be letting her guard down and it made Rachel happy to know that she was doing it around her. It showed enormous trust, especially coming from the head cheerleader. Rachel felt oddly privileged.

Once the boys had decided they’d pedalled out far enough, Fuad called out, “LAST ONE OFF THE BOAT LOSES!” And yet as childish as it was, everyone threw themselves off the boat, not wanting to be the one last into the water. Unfortunately for him, Julian was the last off the boat. He was warned that a punishment would occur but he had no idea what it was or when it would happen. When it did happen, he was entirely unsuspecting. He had gone down the slide and was happily treading water when four more bodies in the shape of Fuad, Claudia, Rachel and Quinn came tearing down the slide after him, knocking him back in the water. It wasn’t really a punishment though. And it resulted in five teenagers being unable to climb back into their peddalo for a good few minutes because their laughter had weakened them and they couldn’t get back in the boat.

When they reached the shore and beached the boat, Quinn hopped out and held her hand open for Rachel. “M’lady.” She nodded as she helped Rachel onto solid land.

Even though she knew it was a joke, Rachel couldn’t help but blush as she held Quinn’s hand and jumped off the boat. Quinn’s hand were really soft. She tried to block her thoughts but it was useless. Especially when Quinn didn’t let go and held her hand as they went to grab their things.

Quinn purposely held onto Rachel’s hand. For one thing, it was nice to have a bit of physical contact with a human being. Holding hands with the brunette was far nicer than holding hands with Finn or Puck or Sam. Not that they’d held hands much anyway. But the boys’ hands were always so big and appeared to swamp her dainty hand. Rachel’s was a perfect size. It was slightly smaller but it fit in hers seamlessly. Quinn thought back to times when she’d called Rachel “man hands”. She’d never been more wrong. Rachel’s hands were tiny and soft. They weren’t clammy either, as Finn’s often had been.

The blonde only let go at the last minute when they had to carry their belongings back to their camp. Rachel spent the walk to camp engaging in light conversation with Quinn and telling herself to stop reading too much into when Quinn was holding her hand. They had only just become friends. Rachel couldn’t let her tiny school girl crush get in the way of it. Up and until now, Rachel had always dismissed thoughts of having a crush on Quinn. The thought was just bizarre and, while she had no problem with Quinn’s gender, the idea of crushing on the girl who made her life hell was a crazy idea. Now that she’d seen the real Quinn, however, Rachel accepted it. There was no point in denying it. That didn’t mean she had to let it show though.

When they returned to their tents, the two had dinner with their parents, the both of them almost falling asleep on each other. Their parents sent them to their tents once they’d finished. They’d had a tiring day. Quinn brought Rachel into a hug, whispering goodnight and Rachel returned the gesture.

Rachel went to sleep feeling the happiest she had in a significant amount of time.


	6. Volleyball

Rachel woke up with the knowledge that there would be a volleyball tournament that day. And she was damn well going to win it. The first part of her day would be no less than the normal, however. She had breakfast with her fathers, Judy and Quinn. When she announced that she was going for a run, Rachel was surprised that Quinn wanted to join her again. The brunette was happy but wondered what Quinn would think about Rachel increasing the distance. She was going to up it from 8km to 10km but she was unsure if Quinn would want to run that far. When Quinn was ready, Rachel asked her what she thought about a 10km run, Quinn was hesitant but she agreed so long as she could set the pace. Rachel was fine with that. So the two of them ran together through the woods, discussing whatever came to mind.

Rachel found out that Quinn was also planning on playing volleyball that day and the two vowed to be on the same team. They both hoped that they could recreate The Mighty Midgets again and take the win for themselves once more.

After their run, the day carried on mirroring their previous. They went for showers together before returning to camp. Lunch was had with their parents, however, and Quinn and Rachel spoke animatedly about what their afternoon could hold.

Down at the volleyball courts, they found out that they should be in teams of six. Thankfully, they saw Danny, Julian, Fuad and Claudia and form their team again. According to Danny, Theo and Scarlett had left the evening before. Rachel and Quinn were sad that their friends had gone but they relaxed as it meant their team was a fixed six-aside one.

Once again there were four teams in the tournament. The Mighty Midgets were determined they would win, though. They had won the frisbee and now they wanted to be champions at volleyball. Julian, Danny and Claudia were pretty relaxed players. They didn’t rush and they played comfortably. On the other hand, Fuad, Quinn and Rachel were all incredibly competitive.  Which then meant that they were incredibly wound up and stiff as they played and got angry if they lost the point. Danny turned to those three in a short break telling them that they needed to let loose a little bit. That the game was only a bit of fun. So after that telling off, Quinn, Rachel and Fuad relaxed a little more into the game and began having more fun. Thankfully they brought the score up from 11-15 to a 21-16 win.

The next game was going to be a bit more tough. Danny called in The Mighty Midgets. All six members met in a huddle. “Right then guys, this is it. This next team is going to be really hard to beat. They thrashed the opposing team 21-5. And we all saw that the other team wasn’t a bad one.” He looked each member in the eye. “I say we just play to have fun. Because if we play to win, like some people did at the start of the last game,” Rachel, Quinn and Fuad looked down a little embarrassed. “Then we will most definitely lose. And we will lose awfully. But if we play to have fun, we may still lose but we won’t look like sore losers.” He smiled. “So are we ready?”

The other five members chorused “Yes.”

“Right then. On three. One two three-”

And The Mighty Midgets shouted “THE MIGHTY MIDGETS.”

And the game began.

Victorious Secret served. Rachel was at the front and bumped the ball up ready for Fuad to run in from behind and dig the ball over. It was hit straight back and Julian, at the back, volleyed it over to the other team. A small blonde girl at the front volleyed it over the net but it went too far. The Mighty Midgets had won a point!

The Mighty Midgets rotated and Quinn moved from the front right to the back right. She served. It cleared the net. But an insanely tall male Victorious Secret teammate smacked the ball straight back down and won them a point.

The game carried on much the same. One team would win a point, then the other. Then Victorious Secret picked up their play. They were leading 20-17. It was the game point.

Victorious Secret had the ball. They served. The ball cleared the net. Danny called it as his. He ran forwards. He dug the ball over the net. Victorious secret hit it between them. Then, on the third hit, it was blasted over once more. Fuad, at the front, jumped up to hit the ball straight down to the ground on the other side of the net. He’d won them a point!

The Mighty Midgets breathed a sigh of relief. 20-18. Maybe they could do this.

They rotated. It was Claudia’s turn to serve. She held the ball loosely in a slightly shaking left hand. Claudia was aware that the game was just for fun and she was happy to play it like that. That didn’t mean that she wanted to be the cause for a loss.

Claudia brought the ball out in front of her, her right hand forming a fist. She began to swing her right hand forward. Just before it made contact with the ball, she removed her left hand and her fist came through the ball. It was a perfect serve. It went right to the far back corner. The girl on Victorious Secret only just managed to hit it back over. Rachel was standing exactly in place to volley it back over. It was an awkward ball for Victorious Secret to get. It fell just above the middle front boy’s head but the girl running forward to get it managed to hit it over and consequently knocked her teammate over. Quinn knocked the ball up. Fuad volleyed the ball over. Only a boy on Victorious Secret was ready. He jumped and slammed the ball down over the net. The ball hit the ground. Victorious Secret had won.

Julian took over and led the three cheers for Victorious Secret before they received one in return and everyone shook hands. Danny was quick to remind his team that it was still quite a good score, especially bearing in mind that they’d beaten the last team 21-5. So The Mighty Midgets left the court with smiles on their faces.

Quinn found her way to Rachel’s side and congratulated her on her play. Rachel grinned in response and threw her arms around Quinn’s neck in a hug, yelling “Thank you but you played so much better! You played so well!” When she released the blonde, Rachel failed to notice a faint blush on Quinn’s face.

The other four members of The Mighty Midgets, however, did notice. They noticed quite a bit between the small brunette and the tall blonde. This time was like every other. They caught each other’s eyes and nodded in agreement. Something was definitely going on, whether the girls knew it or not. And they were damn well going to support their friends through whatever.

Fuad called his friends in. “Who wants to chill a bit this afternoon? We can go back to our tents, get on our swimwear and hang out by the lake. I have a ball I can bring down. My dad probably brought some other things we can use. Other balls, bats, other stuff..” He trailed off. “But yeah. So meet at our normal spot in twenty?”

Everyone agreed and Julian offered to bring down refreshments for everyone.

So twenty minutes or so later the group re-gathered at the water’s edge, the girls sporting bikinis and the guys in their trunks. Fuad had brought down a ball so they decided to go to mess about with that for a bit. The six of them headed into the lake and began a relaxed game of catch. Then the boys turned it into more of a one touch – don’t let the ball touch the water – kind of game. It was really rather stressful. And incredibly intense. It was like a game of ‘don’t let the balloon touch the floor’ only it was harder because the ball fell faster and the water was a lot closer than the floor. Only when Fuad began counting how many times they could keep it up did the game turn serious. Everyone was in it to win it. For some reason this seemed more important than their earlier volleyball matches.

Then Quinn suggested trying to get fifty keep ups in a row. Then it got even more intense. The number of times they got into the forties was unbelievable. As the numbers got closer to fifty, everyone got far too tense, not wanting to be the one preventing them from reaching their goal. Oddly enough, that was their cause for not being able to reach their goal. No-one was loose enough.

On what seemed like their billionth time, the group seemed to be getting close to where they wanted to be. Quinn was across from Rachel and Claudia was to Rachel’s left. To Claudia’s left was Julian. To his left was Quinn, then Danny and then Fuad. They’d managed to find a pattern of passing which worked. Julian started with the ball. He passed it across to Rachel who passed it to Quinn who passed it to Fuad where it went to Claudia then Danny, back to Julian and back around again. When Quinn bopped it to Fuad, they were on forty five. He hit it to Claudia who just about managed to control it enough to get it to Danny. Forty Seven. He just got a touch on it to Julian. Forty eight. Julian’s hit was a bit high. Rachel jumped to reach it. The events during this were interesting to say the least. As Rachel leapt up to hit the ball to Quinn, the drag of the water brought down her bikini top. Quinn, who was watching Rachel’s toned body reach for the ball anyway, was not expecting that. Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. Rachel hit the ball. Forty nine. By now, the ball was flying at speed towards Quinn but she was too busy trying to drag her eyes away from Rachel and close her mouth. The ball hit her square on the face and bounced off to the side where Danny caught it. Quinn fell back in shock and went under the water, spluttering. Rachel had fixed her top by pulling in back up and lunged forward to get Quinn’s head above the water.

Quinn was okay but that didn’t stop Rachel worrying. Her hands were firmly gripped onto the blonde’s biceps and she was asking a million questions a minute. “Are you okay? Can you breathe? Are you hurt? On a scale of one to ten how much pain are you in?”

Quinn shook her head to get the remaining water out of her ears. “Rach, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

As soon as she heard Quinn was okay, Rachel pulled her in a bone crushing hug.

And so Fuad yelled “Ayyyy, get some, Quinnie!”

That resulted in him being elbowed by Danny, both Quinn and Rachel blushing profusely and Quinn leaving the hug, bitch mode fully on and threatening him through gritted teeth. “You keep quiet or I’m going to personally make sure that you can’t have children.”

Rachel reached out to touch Quinn’s shoulder and she immediately became less tense.

Fuad smirked but apologised for his comment and the group decided to play French Cricket on the side of the lake.

After their game, which Julian well and truly won, it was beginning to get dark and the crew decided upon another night around the campfire.

Everyone went back to their tents to get food as quickly as they could so that they could get straight back.

Quinn and Rachel raced back to their tents and Rachel won. Quinn wasn’t best pleased. “You only won because I let you.” She pouted.

“Nice try, Fabray.” Rachel smirked. “Just remember whose pace we run at in the mornings.” She jibed.

Surprisingly, the blonde had no retort and just responded with “Go get your rabbit food.”

Rachel laughed. Loudly. She had won. And she proudly got herself a lentil sun-dried tomato hummus wrap from the Berry’s camping fridge.

Once Quinn came out of her tent with a bacon sandwich, the two set off back down to the lake.

“Hey, Quinn?” Rachel asked.

The blonde hummed in response.

“Do you want a rematch? A run back to the lake to see if you can actually beat me?”

Quinn flat out refused. “No, it’s okay, Rach.” Then she added to it because she didn’t want it to seem like she was declining because she thought she would just lose again. “I’d just let you win again and the last thing any of us need is your ego blowing any bigger.” She smirked to herself.

“Nice try, Quinn.” Rachel laughed. “You’re scared I’m going to beat you again.”

“No!” Quinn spluttered. “I told you the reason.”

“Oh okay..” Rachel trailed off. Then picked up again, a cheeky grin on her face. “Too bad!” She raised the volume of her voice. “READYSETGO!” Rachel shouted as she tore off towards where they’d be spending the evening.

Quinn sped off after her. “Hey, Rach! No fair!” The blonde called, playing faux hurt to Rachel’s actions.

Rachel beat Quinn to the lake. Just.

Rachel teased her nonstop. And when everyone else came back and joined in, Quinn had had enough. “Right you can all stop now. What Rachel hasn’t told you is that she cheated and ran off before I was even aware we were racing.” Quinn folded her arms and sat proud. That would stop them.

And then Rachel opened her mouth. “Yeah but we ran _up_ to the tents before and you knew what was happening then and I still won.”

“I told you, I _let_ you win. I could easily win if I tried.”

“Yeah, yeah, Quinnie.” Jeered Fuad. “I’ll believe that when pigs fly.”

Quinn just pouted. It was no use.

Then Rachel scooted closer to the blonde and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, pulling Quinn’s head to her chest and stroking the cheerleader’s hair with her free hand. “It’s okay, Quinn, they’re just joking.”

Quinn grunted in response. She wasn’t too sure if she could manage much else. Her head was pretty much on Rachel’s boob. Quinn needed to gain some self-control.

Rachel let the blonde sit up normally but didn’t move away. She stayed sat right next to Quinn. The brunette was well aware how close she was to the blonde and that their thighs were touching. In fact, she was hyperaware. Being honest with herself, Rachel had probably never been as focused on something as this, ever. But she liked the closeness so she stayed there.

Danny elbowed Claudia who was next to him and they smiled at how near Rachel and Quinn were sat. Now was time for them to set their plan into action. “Right then guys, who’s up for a game of truth or dare?!” He asked, clearly far too enthusiastic.

Claudia, Fuad and Julian answered immediately with a “Yes.” It was almost suspicious how quickly they answered but Quinn and Rachel paid it no attention.

Rachel clapped to herself in excitement and agreed with just as much, if not more enthusiasm than Danny. She didn’t get many chances to do things like this normally, so she jumped at the chance whenever she could.

Quinn begrudgingly replied with “Only because Rach is playing.” And put her head on Rachel’s shoulder. If they were close, she might as well make the most of it.

Danny offered to be asked first. He chose dare. Claudia provided one. She wasn’t one to start off gently. “I dare you to skinny dip in the lake.”

Danny shrugged and began to strip, taking off his shirt first. “Only because you want to see my gorgeous body again.” He teased.

“In your dreams.” Came a prompt response.

And with that Danny wan undressed and ran into the lakes, covering his lower regions until he dived into the lake. When he came out, a towel was waiting for him and her wrapped it around his waist, allowing his top half to be dried by the heat from the fire. He turned to Claudia. “Your turn. Truth or dare?”

She chose dare. She didn’t want to be outperformed by Danny.

“I dare you to give Rachel a lap dance.” Danny smirked. This could be interesting. He knew that Claudia would do it. And they’d find out Rachel’s reaction for having physical contact with a woman. The best part of it, though, he thought, would be Quinn’s reaction. She seemed like the jealous type. Danny had never been more right.

Claudia strode up to Rachel, confident as ever and promptly turned her back to the small brunette who remained sat down. Claudia sat down slowly, gyrating her hips in a circular motion on Rachel’s lap. As she did so, she looked to Quinn. The poor blonde was sat down, jaw set and her knuckles had gone white from holding the seat so hard. Claudia decided to turn it up a notch to see what would happen then. She stood up again, this time turning to face Rachel. She repeated her movements, this time facing the brunette. She added some kissing to Rachel’s jawline. Then stopped at the sudden clearing of a throat. It was Julian.

As much as he was enjoying it, he could see that Quinn was getting really uncomfortable and he didn’t want to push her away before their plan had been done.

Claudia stepped back and asked Julian which one he wanted to do. He chose truth.

“What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?” asked Fuad.

Julian shook his head in shame. “You guys have to remember I couldn’t even speak when I did this.” He saw a group of curious faces and carried on. “I was outside in the garden and a woodlouse crawled past…” He paused.

Fuad’s face was twisted in disgust. “You didn’t.” He said, really not wanting to believe the inevitable.

“I did.” Julian admitted. “Several times, apparently, and my mum used to have to get them out of my mouth before I actually swallowed them.”

Fuad pretended to gag. “That’s disgusting, dude. Just.. never tell a chick you like about your weird childhood diet. You’ll never be able to pull.”

Julian agreed. “Oh god, I would never.”

The game carried on much like that. There were a few dares. One involving with Quinn flirting with the first person they came across on the campsite, one involving Julian getting a wet willy and one which resulted in Claudia having to sit on Danny’s knee for the next round. Then the truths involved them finding out that Danny had accidentally asked out the wrong twin and that Fuad regularly watched musicals but would die if anyone caught him, much to Rachel’s delight.

Then everyone turned to Rachel. “It’s your turn, Barbra.” Grinned Claudia. “Truth or dare?”

Rachel’s answer was immediate. “Dare.” Her face was set in a grin, ready for whatever would be thrown her way.

Danny and Claudia had a whispered conversation as they decided. They were soon put to a stop when Quinn drawled, “Didn’t your parents ever tell you it’s rude to whisper?”

The pair just dismissed the blonde and Danny relayed their dare. “We dare you, Rachel Berry, to kiss Quinn Fabray.”

Quinn’s jaw dropped open. _This was not happening_.

Rachel just shrugged and turned to the blonde. She leaned forward, touching her forehead to Quinn’s. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Rachel whispered to the blonde.”

Quinn smiled. “It’s okay. We can do it.”

With her consent, Rachel closed the gap between them, pressing her lips against Quinn’s. She varied her pressure before asking, by sliding her tongue along Quinn’s lips, for access to take it a bit further. Permission was granted.

It seemed that Quinn and Rachel were out to the world. That is, until Danny spoke up. “Alright kiddies, keep it PG-13!”

The pair pulled back, shyly both blushing. Quinn whispered in Rachel’s ear. “I’ve kind of been wanting to do that all evening.”

Rachel smiled and whispered back. “Me too. Thank you.”

They both smiled to each other. Claudia was quick to speak though. “Oi, lovebirds!” She called. “Didn’t your parents ever tell you it was rude to whisper?” Claudia grinned, making it clear she was mocking Quinn from earlier.

Danny intervened before Quinn could retort. “Right then. We’ll leave it there for tonight. Goodnight, everyone.” He got up and hugged everyone goodnight before leaving. Everyone else followed suit, leaving just Quinn and Rachel sat by the fire.

When they were definitely alone, Quinn opened her mouth to speak. “I really want to stay here with you but I’m really tired.”

Rachel smiled. “It’s okay. Let’s go back to camp. We have plenty of time to spend together this summer.” The brunette stood up, holding out her hand to help Quinn up. Only they didn’t let go again.

The pair walked back to their tents in content silence. When they reached their destination, they wished each other a goodnight. Before turning back to her tent, Rachel stood on her tiptoes to peck Quinn on the lips. The cheerleader blushed in the darks and gracefully returned it, bringing the smaller girl into a hug. Then they went their separate ways.


	7. Talking And Tennis Training

Morning came and Rachel awoke to the sound of birds chirping. To her surprise, though it was only half past seven, she could hear her fathers, Quinn and Quinn's mother talking gently with one another. Normally they weren't up and out of their tents at that time but Rachel shrugged and changed into some clothes. Then she made her bed roll.

When she clambered out of her tent, she immediately saw Quinn. Her fathers had their backs to Rachel and she could see Quinn's face between them. She smiled. Quinn was dressed but wrapped completely from head to toe in a blanket looking a bit like a burrito and the brunette couldn't help but think how adorable the blonde looked. All Rachel could see was Quinn’s face and she looked so cute and sleepy. To Quinn's left was Judy Fabray. Judy was in light conversation with Hiram and Leroy.

Rachel approached the group, setting up her chair between Quinn and Hiram but quite a bit closer to Quinn than her dad. Her fathers greeted her with their good morning wishes which she replied to before saying good morning to Judy. Finally she turned to Quinn and offered her a small smile. "Good morning, Quinn." Rachel really hoped Quinn hadn't thought too much about their kiss last night and decided that it was a bad idea.

Rachel needn't have worried. Quinn's soft reply came immediately with a small smile to match the brunette's. "Good morning, Rach. How did you sleep?"

"The best I've slept in a while. How about you?"

"The best I've had in a while too." The blonde admitted, shyly biting her bottom lip. Then she looked to see how much attention their parents were paying to them. It appeared as though it wasn't very much. They were having their own conversation and had somehow managed to get onto the topic of work, even though it was only eight in the morning and it was the holidays. Quinn shook her head. She didn't understand. She was doing all she could to not think about school. "I think it might have been the best I've had in a while. Mainly because I went to sleep a lot happier than I have done in years." The blonde looked down and blushed.

Rachel let out a little squeal but quickly covered it with a clearing of her throat, hoping that her fathers wouldn’t notice. "Aww, Quinn, that's so sweet!" She threw her arms around the blonde in a hug and kissed her cheek on the way in. It was so subtle that their parents wouldn't notice even if they'd been looking towards the pair of them.

After their breakfast, it was Quinn who suggests going for a run. Rachel agreed and they trudged to their tents to change. Five minutes later, Rachel waited outside Quinn's tent for the blonde to get ready. As she made her way out, she smiled to Rachel. The blonde grabbed her hand and dragged her to the map of the woods. "So. Where are we going today?" 

"I think we'll just go five kilometres today. I'm not too fussed about going far today." Rachel turned to Quinn. "But what do you think?"

"I think that sounds perfect."

And so they set off. They were faster than usual because they had less far to run overall. The first few minutes were spent in a comfortable silence, the both of them taking some time to think. Rachel was happy. That's all she knew. And she was pretty sure that Quinn was happy too. There was a niggling in the back of her head, though, telling her how everything would change as soon as they went to school. That Quinn would go back to how she was. It was a huge turn around for someone to make, even if they had been thinking about it for quite a while. Rachel decided to ignore those thoughts for the moment. She was going to enjoy the now. It may not happen anyway. Quinn could surprise her. Rachel hoped with all her soul that she would.

Quinn was definitely happy. She wasn't sure if it was because she'd finally let herself actually be herself and not worry about being ridiculed for it or if it was because of Rachel. Maybe it was a bit of both. If she was honest, it was predominantly because of Rachel. She smiled when she thought about the night before. Quinn had let her walls down and she'd enjoyed every moment of it. Especially the kissing part. That was probably her favourite part of the whole holiday. The only thing she was slightly apprehensive about was her mother finding out. School would be fine. Brittany and Santana had no problems so it would be similar for her and Rachel. Her mother, however, was a touchy subject. They'd just got their relationship back to normal. To be fair, it was a lot better than it had ever been. It was just Quinn and her mother now and they were getting along like a house on fire. The blonde just hoped this wouldn't change anything. She had hope it wouldn't. After all, her mother was very friendly with the Berry men. And she hadn't said anything about them. Maybe it would be okay.

Rachel and Quinn met a junction in the woods. "Which way now?" Asked the blonde.

"To the left to the left." Rachel sang, giggling.

Quinn just laughed at Rachel and shook her head. "You big nerd."

Rachel just grinned. "You like nerds."

"Fair play, Berry. Fair play." Quinn smiled. She paused to gain courage. "So," The blonde started. "What do you think'll happen here?" She asked. "With us?"

Rachel was taken aback at first. She wasn't expecting Quinn to be the one to initiate this conversation. Especially so soon. But the brunette composed herself. "It depends what we want to happen." Rachel spoke slowly.

Quinn hummed an affirmative.

"I mean, I like you. And I'm assuming you like me too?" Rachel didn't want to seem too confident with saying that Quinn reciprocated her feelings. She didn't want to appear big headed.

"Of course I like you too." Stated the blonde, as if nothing was more obvious than that. Quinn was taken aback. Surely Rachel wasn’t second guessing her feelings. Sure, maybe she wasn’t the most open about her feelings, but it wasn’t like she’d been holding them back. Maybe she’d have to try even harder to prove herself to Rachel. Maybe she could take the brunette out somewhere. It would be hard while on holiday but she could plan and she could damn well try.

Rachel couldn't help but grin. "Right. Okay. Well, for now I propose we do nothing." The diva saw Quinn's face drop. "I don't mean actually do nothing. I mean we just go with how we're feeling and don't label anything just yet." Rachel elaborated. The diva wasn’t sure how Quinn would be finding all of this and she really didn’t want to scare her off before much had started. She really, _really_ liked the blonde.

Quinn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I like that idea. I'd just rather you didn't find yourself a holiday boyfriend, though.” Then she added, "If that's okay with you."

Rachel saw the opportunity to have some fun here. Though it was a serious conversation, it didn't need to be deadly serious. "But I can get a campsite girlfriend, right?" She asked with a completely straight face. "Because, though I like you a lot, there are still a lot of attractive girls here. Claudia, for one. And I definitely enjoyed her lap dance last night. I may ask for another. Or give her one instead."

"Raaaaaacchhh." Quinn whined. She knew the brunette was joking. Well, she definitely hoped that she was. "You know what I mean. I meant that we may not be anything officially, but I'd like us to be only with each other."

"I know, Quinn, I was just playing. That sounds perfect. I'd like it like that."

"Great." Replied the blonde. "Sounds like we've got a plan."

Then Quinn saw the end of the trail. "Hey, Rach?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Race time!" Quinn called with a grin. "READYSETGO!" She shouted it and sped off. She might regret her exercise the next day but there was no way she was going to let Rachel beat her again.

Quinn was victorious. Only by a fraction of a second. But she was still victorious. And it was safe to say she wasn't quiet about it. "So, Rachel. How does it feel to be beaten?" The blonde grinned.

Rachel pouted. "Yeah but you cheated."

"All's fair in love and war." Sing-songed Quinn. "And this is a war I'm not going to lose."

Rachel just shook her head. She'd leave Quinn to it. The brunette could beat the blonde any other time. She could let the cheerleader have her single win.

They went for showers afterwards just as usual. Thankfully there were two cubicles next to each other so they took them. Though both Quinn and Rachel were both used to using communal showers after cheerleading and ballet, they stuck to the closed cubicles there. They both knew that if they did use the communal section, they may not have been able to keep their eyes at a suitable level. It was hard enough to do so when they were wearing their bikinis. And now there was something going on between them, their curiosity had sparked somewhat. Overall, it would probably be a bad idea so they were both glad to shower in the cubicles.

During lunch, the pair discussed how they'd plan their afternoon. Rachel mentioned there being a tennis tournament on the next day. Quinn immediately suggested playing as a doubles team. And so they planned to practice that afternoon with Julian and Danny.

Once they'd eaten their food and let it go down a bit, they left to call on the two boys. They were at Danny's tent with Claudia and Fuad. Danny was well up for a game and Julian agreed to be his partner. Claudia and Fuad opted to just watch as they'd never played before but enjoyed it as a spectator sport.

Down at the pitches, both teams warmed up just having a rally between them. Quinn and Rachel on one side of the net and Julian and Danny on the other. It seemed both teams were pretty good. Apparently both Rachel and Quinn had had tennis lessons when they were younger so they knew the general rules and skills, and hadn't lost the knack for the game. Danny had just played for his school but still managed to have excellent skill. Then there was Julian. He was alarmingly good. Then he shared that he actually played weekly and all was understood.

Having got used to the feel of the ball and racquets, they decided to play best of three. Julian and Danny won the first match. Rachel and Quinn won the second. They were on the third game and Julian and Danny were serving. The score was 40-35. It was the match point. Julian served. Quinn volleyed it back. Julian hit it back. Rachel smashed it but Danny got his racquet on it and the ball just cleared the net and fell down straight after. Julian and Danny cheered, high fived and hugged. They'd won! Granted, it was only a practice match. But it meant they knew where they would stand in tomorrow's tournament in comparison to Rachel and Quinn's team.

Quinn called over the net. "You may have won this round but we'll beat you tomorrow."

Danny jokingly scoffed. "Yeah right, blondie. Keep dreaming." He held out a fist and Julian bumped it. "That's right, ladies, you're going to lose tomorrow."

"We'll see." Said Rachel. She wasn't going to let them win tomorrow. Quinn and Rachel would easily beat them.

Back at camp, Judy pulled Quinn away as they were meeting family for dinner. The young blonde begrudgingly said goodbye to Rachel, hugging her and secretly pecking her on the lips.

When Quinn was gone, Rachel spent the evening with her fathers. They played A Round Of Johns, a game where you took turns to name as many famous people with that name, which Rachel won. She knew of a surprising number of famous people called John. Her fathers, luckily for her didn't know as many. Afterwards they played A Round Of Sallys and this time Leroy won. Rachel pouted and Hiram threw around accusations of cheating. Leroy just ignored them. Rachel could be a sore loser on occasion and it was no secret that she learnt the habit from Hiram.

At dinner time, Rachel's dads asked her what she'd been doing during their holiday. The small girl happily told them all about her new friends, Danny, Claudia and Julian. She spoke of what they'd all been doing. The volleyball, frisbee, games by the lake and games in the lake. Whatever she talked about, however, always came back around to Quinn. Once Rachel started gushing about the blonde, she found she couldn't stop.

Thankfully Rachel missed the looks her fathers' shared look in reaction to their daughter's spiel about the blonde next door. It was cute though, and she seemed happy, so they let her be.

The clock struck ten o'clock and Rachel and her fathers returned to their tents.

Rachel climbed into hers, changed into her pyjamas and thought about her day. It had been great. But she'd missed Quinn that evening. Which was ridiculous, really, because she'd been gone for less than six hours. And they had ages to spend together anyway. It wasn’t like Quinn would completely forget about her. The brunette focused, instead, on rolling her bed roll back out. It once it was out, she snuggled into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes ready to sleep.

Then she heard a noise.

It sounded like someone was coming towards her tent. Rachel shook the feeling off. She was being ridiculous. Then she heard a zip. There was no mistaking it. That was definitely the zip to her tent. Rachel shrank further down her sleeping bag. She was going to die. She was going to die in the middle of a campsite. This would be her end. It was the perfect horror film. Now she'd never live to be on Broadway and have her own family. God, she wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye to anyone. Rachel bid her dreams goodbye and mentally prepared herself for the serial killer who was bound to enter her tent with a knife in hand.

The person called her name. Rachel wanted to scream. Until she realised where she recognised the voice from. It was Quinn. "Quinn Lucy Fabray get your ass in here and apologise immediately. You scared me to death. Are you trying to kill me?!"

Though it was dark, Rachel could see the sheepish look on Quinn's face. "Sorry, Rach." The blonde whispered. "I just wanted to see you. It sounds silly but I missed you this evening."

Rachel's face softened. As did her tone of voice. "I missed you too." Rachel patted the area next to her. "I'm sleepy though. So please don't hurt me if I fall asleep on you. Just come and lie here with me. I have a spare blanket that you can use." Rachel knew that she could’ve been pushing it a bit. But she wanted to see where her and Quinn lied. No pun intended. Of course, she could always talk to the blonde but a part of her found it more exciting to find out through trial and error.

The tent space was very small but Quinn managed to fit in next to Rachel. Rachel scooted closer to Quinn. They were both lying on their sides and Rachel draped an arm over Quinn's waist and they fell asleep with Quinn as the little spoon and Rachel as the big spoon.


	8. Tennis Tournament

Rachel woke up the next morning without her sleeping bag around her but with something warmer and heavier draped over her. At first she was confused. Then she remembered that Quinn had come into her tent last night. The brunette smiled. Quinn must’ve fallen asleep with her. Opening her eyes, Rachel saw that she was indeed in her tent with Quinn and that the blonde’s limbs were completely entangled with hers. The diva heard a small moan come from Quinn’s lips as the cheerleader woke up. Rachel blushed, her mind wandering places where it probably shouldn’t just yet. “Good morning, Quinn.” She whispered.

“Hey you. Good morning to you too.” The blonde smiled and stretched. She found herself thinking that she could get used to waking up next to Rachel Berry.

“Up you get then, blondie!” Rachel requested. “I need to make my bed roll!”

Quinn cocked her head to the side, her brows funnelled in confusion. “What on earth is a bed roll?”

Rachel’s face fell. “You don’t know what a bed roll is?”

Quinn shook her head.

“But you’ve been camping for days?”

The blonde nodded slowly.

“A bed roll is one of the most important parts of camping. Your bed needs to keep dry so that you can sleep in a warm and comfortable place.” Rachel lectured Quinn. “If rain gets into your tent or the water condenses, it could easily fall on your bed and wet it if your bed is out. Which then means you won’t sleep very well because you’re cold. However, if you roll up all your bed in a groundsheet, it stays dry and it leaves more space in the tent.”

Quinn blinked twice in response. “I wish I’d never asked.”

Rachel pouted.         

The blonde was quick to fix her wrong. “I don’t mean it how you think I do.” She assured. “I just mean I’ve literally just woken up. I can’t ingest this much information yet.”

“Oh.” Whispered Rachel. “My apologies.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Quinn dismissed. “Besides, sometimes your ramblings are cute.”

Rachel grinned and leaned to peck the blonde’s cheek. “I think _you’re_ cute.” She pulled back and grabbed Quinn’s hand. “Let’s go to breakfast.”

And so they left Rachel’s tent and bid their good mornings to their parents.

“Why didn’t you sleep in your own tent, Quinnie?” Judy inquired.

“Oh uh…” The blonde stuttered. “I went to see Rachel when we got back. And Rachel was cold so I stayed with her to keep her warm.” Quinn hoped that her mother would believe her lie. She could see Rachel nodding her head vigorously in her peripheral vision.

“If that’s what you say, dear.” Judy motioned to the makeshift breakfast table. “Are you two going to be joining us for breakfast?”

“Oh yes, Miss Fabray.” Confirmed the tiny brunette.

“Rachel, I’ve told you a million times, please call me Judy.” Quinn’s mother lightly chastised.

The brunette smiled shyly. “We’ll definitely be joining you for breakfast, Judy.”

Both Quinn and Rachel pulled their chairs up to the table and began to eat. Quinn helped herself to a sausage sandwich and began munching on it as Rachel grabbed herself a bowl of cereal.

The parents sneak glances at their daughters. Rachel and Quinn were sat a lot closer than usual and seemed oddly perky for this time in the morning.

Judy was happy, though. It seemed as though Rachel had listened to her and befriended Quinn. It was about time Quinn got a friend to herself. Judy realised that while her daughter was friends with Santana and Brittany, those two very much had each other and she felt her daughter believed she may have been intruding at times and so didn’t always have someone to talk to. Quinn having Rachel as a friend, put Judy’s mind to rest a little bit.

Rachel’s fathers, however, saw perfectly through their daughter’s friendship with the blonde. As good of an actress she was, she had never been particularly good at hiding anything from them. Being perfectly honest, they were a little wary of whatever was blossoming between the brunette and the blonde as they knew the majority of their history and didn’t quite trust Quinn. However, they trusted Rachel and so they were willing to allow whatever was going to happen, happen.

After breakfast Quinn and Rachel went for their run, showered then returned to camp.

Back at camp they were planning for their tennis afternoon.

“Quinn I have an idea that you’re either going to love or hate.”

Quinn grimaced. “I have a feeling it’ll be the latter.” To say the blonde was apprehensive was an understatement and that feeling wasn’t helped by the sly grin on Rachel’s face.

“You know how this tennis tournament is done in doubles and hence we will be a team?”

“Yeah..”

“And you’re aware that many teams, such as the cheerios or our football team, wear kits so that every member of the team is wearing the same-“

“Rachel.” Quinn cut in. “God help me if you’re going to suggest wearing matching clothes.”

Rachel shrugged slightly, making it crystal clear that that was exactly what she was going for.

“Rachel. There’s no way-”

“Just think about it!” Rachel pleaded. “Obviously we won’t be able to wear the exact same clothes but surely we have some similar ones.” Rachel could see that Quinn wasn’t going to budge. She decided to pull out the pout and puppy dog eyes. It’d be useful to know how well they worked on the blonde. “But I really, really want to do this, Quinn. It’s my first and probably last chance at this and I’d really like it if-”

“Fine, Berry.” Quinn gave in. Her comment had no bite to it what so ever. “But I have conditions.”

Rachel jumped up and down in excitement and clapped several times. “Yes!” She squealed and threw herself on the blonde. “I’ll do whatever you want! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” The diva had wrapped her arms around the cheerleader’s neck and she pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

Quinn smiled. Rachel was adorable when she was this excited. “Number one,” Quinn held up a slender finger. “We speak of this to no-one.”

“Deal.”

She held up a second finger. “Rule number two, I’m picking the outfits.”

Rachel nodded vigorously. “Of course.”

Then she held up a third and final finger. “Third and final rule,” The blonde paused. “I get to call upon you when I next need a favour doing.”

Rachel just grinned. “It’s sorted then! Time to pick our clothes!” And so the brunette dragged Quinn into her tent to pick out her outfit.

XoxoXoxoX

When Rachel and Quinn got down to the tennis courts, the rest of their squad were already down there. As soon as Fuad saw Quinn and Rachel in their matching get-ups he lost his shit. He was bent double with tears streaming down his face. Between gasps, he managed to tell Quinn that she was “so whipped, man.”

Quinn wanted to disagree. But she looked down and her clothes and at Rachel. It was really quite ridiculous. All they could find to match were their white converse for shoes, blue denim shorts and horizontal striped navy and white tank tops. When she thought about it, it seemed everyone had had a navy and white striped clothed period. Quinn was never less thankful for it. The worst part, however, was that Rachel was well equipped. For some reason Rachel owned two sweat bands. So the blonde and brunette had matching red sweatbands on their heads. Quinn didn’t even know they even sold them anymore. Nevertheless, she wasn’t going to let Fuad get away with his comment. “You won’t be laughing when I cut your tongue out.”

Rachel elbowed Quinn. That was a little harsh.

Fuad just shrugged. “Whatever, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re whipped as heck.”

Quinn growled, turned, and grabbed Rachel’s hand and took her towards the tennis courts, ready for the tournament.

It seemed that a group of not so skilled people had joined the tournament as Quinn and Rachel had no problem beating the first six of the seven teams they played. It was being played as a rally robin on three courts, with one team sat off at a time.

Julian and Danny had found the results to be the same and, remarkably, they got the exact same scores against the teams that Quinn and Rachel did. So for their last matches, they were playing one another and the winner would determine the champion.

Their game was surprisingly tense. And incredibly close. Each time Quinn and Rachel gained a point, Julian and Danny would catch up on the next point. The amount of time a deuce was called was unbelievable. It was what felt like the billionth, but was actually the fifth, when Quinn and Rachel got an advantage. All they had to do was win the next point and then they’d win the tournament. And, of course, Quinn and Rachel would be able to hold their victory over Julian and Theo.

Rachel stood opposite Julian. Quinn was opposite Danny. Rachel was serving. She through the ball in the air, and connected solidly with it. It sailed smoothly to Danny with accuracy and speed. Theo hit it back easily though. Rachel put all her might into hitting it back over towards Julian. The brunette heard Quinn murmur, “Play the easy game.” And Rachel took it in her stride. Whenever the ball came to her, she’d hit the ball into space on the other side of the court. She didn’t hit it hard. She didn’t need to. Quinn followed suit.

It seemed that Julian and Danny were getting rather frustrated. They were moving around for not a lot. This was perfect. It meant they were tense and more likely to fluff something up. Rachel muttered to Quinn, “Play off their mistakes.” And that’s exactly what she did. As Julian hit a shaky ball over from the front of the court, Quinn calmly returned it to the back corner where Julian had just vacated. It bounced once. It bounced out.

They had won.

Time seemed to repeat itself in victory as Quinn lifted Rachel up and spun her around in the air. This time, however, when they landed, Quinn planted a soft kiss on Rachel’s lips and pulled back smiling, leaving their foreheads touching. Rachel smiled back, gently pressing her lips once more. They pulled back, holding hands, grins etched across their faces.

The camp staff wanted a photo of the winners and so Rachel dragged Quinn so they could have a photo with their trophy. A few were taken and Quinn asked if they could be emailed to her so she could see them and share them with Rachel when they got home. The staff member took Quinn’s address and vowed they would send it personally.

On the walk back, Rachel thought Quinn had been rather quiet. Maybe something was on her mind. Rachel wanted desperately to ask but she wanted Quinn to tell her on her own. Part of being friends, well, whatever they were, was talking to each other and Rachel wanted to give Quinn a chance to speak to her first. Of course, she could be very wrong about everything. Maybe nothing was wrong and Quinn was just enjoying the quiet. Rachel dismissed the entire thought. Quinn would tell her if something was wrong.

“Hey, Rach?” Quinn asked tentatively.

Rachel swore her heart stopped. Of course she was right. The woman had a sixth sense. In a matter of moments a billion hypothetical situations popped into her head. What if Quinn wanted to break up with her? She wasn’t even going out with her! What if Quinn was leaving the campsite? What if Quinn was going to admit she was actually a psychopathic killer? What if she was going to show her where she hid the bodies? What if she was going to be Quinn’s next victim?! Rachel took a deep breath. She was being ridiculous and she knew it. None of those things were going to happen. … She hoped. Instead of voicing her slightly irrational fears, Rachel replied to the blonde. “Yeah?”

“Couldyoumaybenotplananythingfortommorowbecuaseihavesomethingplannedforthetwoofus.” Quinn rushed out.

Rachel’s face was blank. While she couldn’t understand a word of what had just been said, she was pretty sure it wasn’t a murder confession. “Please could you repeat that a little slower? I couldn’t quite understand.”

The blonde took a deep breath. “Would you mind not planning anything for tomorrow? Because I have something planned for the two of us.” She smiled shyly. “That is if you’d like to come.”

Rachel let out a tiny sigh of relief and prayed that Quinn wouldn’t notice it. “I’d love to. May I ask what you’ve planned?”

Quinn was beaming. Rachel had said yes! “A date.”

Rachel was grinning now. Quinn was adorable. The brunette had no idea how shy the normally headstrong and brave cheerleader could be. “Awhh, Quinn!” She quickly pecked the blonde’s cheek. “That’s so sweet of you! Where are we going? What are we doing?” Her tiny body was quaking with excitement.

“It’s a surprise.” Smirked Quinn. Knowing that Rachel would ask a million different question, Quinn firmly kissed Rachel on the lips, her hand trailing lightly up the brunette’s spine. She pulled back quickly. “Let’s get back to camp for dinner.” The blonde walked ahead of Rachel, delighted that she’d found a new way to stop the brunette from talking quite so much. Plus, it was fun for both of them. It was a win:win situation.

Rachel stood, shocked for a moment before turning into a light jog to catch up with Quinn. By the time she had caught up with the blonde, they had reached their tents and, judging by the smell, dinner was ready already.

After dinner, Rachel and Quinn ask permission to leave the adults to go and spend some time together. Before Hiram can make a comment about how they spend _all_ their time together, Leroy gives them permission, elbowing Hiram in the stomach. Once the girls had gone, he spoke to his husband. “Leave them be, H. They’re happy.”

Hiram muttered a small “Fine.”

Judy surprised the two men by speaking up. “Something’s going on between them, isn’t it? They’re more than friends.”

Rachel’s fathers shared a glance but it was Leroy who spoke. “We think so, yes. But it isn’t really our place to say.”

Judy just smiled. “I understand.” She nodded. “I’m happy about it though. In all honestly, I never thought I would be but I could never allow myself to be anything less than that when I see how happy _she_ is.” Quinn’s mother sat with a content look on her face.

Both Leroy and Hiram were delighted that Judy was fine with anything that could be happening between their daughters. Hiram, however, was also delighted for another reason. Judy was completely aware that there was a little something something going on with Quinn and Rachel. That meant he could be open about it. He could embarrass his little girl and her “friend”. This was going to be heaven.

About half an hour later, Quinn and Rachel came out of Rachel’s tent to spend some time with their parents. It was decided that they’d play a game of Cheat. So Rachel ran back to her tent to grab a pack of cards. Upon her return, she seated herself even closer to the blonde than before.

Hiram smirked. “Rachel, honey, if you’re a bit cold and you’re snuggling up to Quinn for warmth, I’m sure you can put on an extra layer instead. Or have you conveniently forgotten that to play Cheat, or whatever you kids are calling it these days, you can’t let anyone see which cards you have?”

Rachel blushed profusely. “No, I haven’t forgotten the rules and I’m just the perfect temperature, thank you.” Rachel huffed as she moved only the tiniest possible distance from Quinn. As soon as Hiram turned away, she shot daggers at him. She knew full well what he was doing and she was less than happy about it.

Sure enough, as the game went on, Hiram’s teasing didn’t come to a halt. If anything, it just increased until the game ended. Rachel threw her remaining cards down, calling “Three aces.”

Since you have to call out the last person for lying, Hiram decided he would be the one to do so. “Cheat.”

Rachel smirked. “Nope.” She accentuated the P by popping it. That would show him. She flipped the cards to prove her cards had indeed been three ace. The diva felt for Quinn’s hand, held it, and tugged it, silently asking Quinn to follow her.

“I’ll be with you in a moment, Rach, I just need a moment. You go on ahead.” Quinn spoke softly.

Rachel stormed into her tent, angry at her father. Sometimes he didn’t know when to stop. She loved him but he really needed to learn when to stop.

While Rachel was in her tent huffing and puffing, Quinn stayed out with her mother and Rachel’s fathers. Graciously, she turned to the Berry men. “Do I have your permission to take Rachel for a surprise tomorrow? I can’t say much because, knowing her, she’ll be listening intently to try and find out what I have planned.” She laughed a little. “All I can say is we’ll be gone for tomorrow but we’ll be back in the late afternoon the following day. I promise I’ll look after her. You have my word. And I swear we’re not going far.”

Leroy caught his husband’s eye and saw him nod. “That’s perfectly fine with us, Quinn. Thank you. We trust you.” His eyes were kind and gentle and Quinn found herself feeling almost at home. It made her smile.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” Hiram spoke up. “But if something happens to our daughter, it’s on you. And you’ll be on our list.”

Even though she knew he was joking, the blonde still gulped. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

Quinn then retired to Rachel’s tent, having said goodnight to the adults, for a night’s rest before her date with Rachel the following day. She hoped Rachel would like it.

Little did the blonde know, the adults were perfectly aware that Quinn was asking the Berry men’s permission to take their daughter out on a date.

Judy spoke quietly, so their daughters in the nearby tent wouldn’t hear them. “Well that’s something I thought I’d never see.”

Leroy queried what exactly she meant by that.

“I mean, well, for starters I never thought I’d see Quinn asking permission to take anyone out for a date, let alone a girl.” Judy chuckled. “But mainly, I never thought I’d see Quinnie so shy. She looked so small asking your permission as if she was afraid you’d not let her take Rachel out. I never even saw her being that shy when she was a little girl. She must hold the both of you, and Rachel pretty high up in her mind.”

Hiram and Leroy’s eyes were glistening slightly with unshed tears. Their daughter had found someone who seemed to view her as a goddess and treat her like one too. They couldn’t be happier for her.

“As much as I tease them,” Hiram began, “They really do suit each other. And I’m glad they’ve worked through their differences to find happiness.”

The other two adults nodded in agreement. Reaching a stillness in conversation, they mutually decided that they would go to bed and see each other again in the morning. They bid each other goodnight and left for their own tents.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a quick note. Updates are changing a lil bit. Chapters'll now go up on Wednesdays only :) I hope that's okay. Also I'd like to thank you all for your support. It means a lot and seeing your kudos and comments make me really happy!! so I'm replying to them now bc i've finally worked out that i can!! so thank you again for your support :)


	9. First Date

Today was surprise day. And Rachel woke up bright and early. Quinn was lying with her head on Rachel’s chest as she still hadn’t moved her own bedding into the brunette’s tent. Rachel wanted to find out what was happening today, though. That wasn’t going to happen if Quinn wasn’t up. So the diva reached for the pillow behind her head and thumped it on Quinn’s side. She hit her once more. Thrice.

Quinn awoke with a groan and stretched. “I know you want your surprise but this isn’t making me want to tell you.” Her voice was laced with sleep and Quinn hadn’t bothered to open her eyes yet.

“I’m super, super sorry.” Rachel apologised, not sounding like she was sorry at all. “But I really want to know what’s happening today. Pretty please?” She pleaded.

Quinn snorted. “You’ll find out when we get there.”

“When we get there?” Rachel asked, confused.

“Yes. We’re going to go on a walk to get to your surprise.”

Rachel hummed in thought. Then she sat up abruptly, throwing Quinn forward with the sudden movement. “Well then we best get ready as quickly as possible so we can get started ASAP!” The brunette exclaimed and jumped up, practically pushed Quinn off her bedding, rolled it up, and dragged Quinn out of the tent.

“Racheelll.” Quinn whined. “What time is it?! Literally no-one is up.”

Just at that moment, the Berry men came out of their tent. “Unfortunately we’re also up, Quinn.” Came Hiram’s voice. “Rachel gets very excited about surprises and so the volume of her voice also increases.” He grimaced, ready for whatever his daughter would throw back at him.

“Yes, well, I’m just grateful. Quinn has been lovely.” Rachel sulked. “What time _is_ it though?” She asked, tentatively, scared that it would be far too early.

“It’s just gone seven, honey.” Leroy answered with a yawn as Judy came out of her tent.

“Oh.” Whispered Rachel. It wasn’t _too_ early, she thought. There were usually others up at this time. But she still felt guilty for waking everyone up. “Sorry for being so loud.”

Her fathers nodded in acceptance, Quinn smiled and Judy was the only one to speak. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s cute you’re so excited.” Rachel blushed in response.

They all settled down for breakfast, each sneaking amused glances at Rachel as the tiny girl couldn’t sit still. It seemed her excitement was literally taking over her whole body. She finished well before everyone else and sat with her leg jumping up and down. As soon as Quinn had taken her last bite of her toast, Rachel grasped her hand and dragged her back to her tent, demanding that they get going immediately.

“Just be still for one moment so I can explain what you’ll need to bring and wear today.” Quinn pleaded, holding her head in her hand. Excited Rachel was an adorable Rachel and it made Quinn incredibly happy to be the one causing her excitement. However, at these early moments, it was taking all she had to stay awake, let alone keep up with the brunette’s hyperactivity.

Rachel stilled immediately. “Of course, Quinn. What do I need to know?”

“Well, you’re going to want to brush your teeth now and then give it to me. I’ll put it in my rucksack with mine. Along with some drinks and snacks. Then clothing-wise, just wear things that are comfy and you don’t mind them getting dirty. And make sure you have solid-soled shoes on. That should be it!” Quinn smiled as Rachel nodded and ran into her tent to get everything ready. “Oh and Rach?” She called.

“Yeah?” Came a muffled reply.

“You’ll need to wear swimming stuff underneath.” Quinn smirked. Rachel would have no idea what she was planning. She only hoped that she would love it.

“Oh okay!” Rachel shouted back. In all honesty she was very confused. Surprisingly, though, she found that she trusted the blonde completely. Rachel thought she might have something holding her back due to her past but there seemed to be nothing. Not to worry, though. Her instincts were normally right and she prayed this time wouldn’t be any different.

Fifteen minutes later and the pair were ready to set off. “Are you sure I won’t need anything else, Quinn? With me needing my toothbrush, it makes me think we won’t be coming back tonight and I don’t think just a toothbrush will be enough for two days. What about clothes? Shouldn’t I pack a spare change of clothes?”

Quinn shook her head in despair. They’d been over this a million times in the past ten minutes. “Rachel. We’ve been over this.” The blonde spoke firmly but kindly. “I have everything set up, I can promise you that you won’t need anything else.” She locked eyes with the brunette. “Do you believe me?”

“I do.”

“Well then, we won’t need to have this conversation again then.” Quinn sighed, hoping that she really wouldn’t have to have that conversation again. “Let’s say goodbye to our parents then we can go.”

And so the pair bid goodbye to their parents and set off with Quinn leading the way.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ve told you, it’s a surprise.”

“Are we nearly there yet?”

“We have literally just left. You can still see our tents.”

“How long will it take to get there?”

“Two or three hours at most, I’d say.”

“Is it all uphill?”

“Mostly.”

“Are you sure it’ll only take two or three hours?”

“ _Yes._ Rachel.”

“But you’ve never really left here for that long.”

“Rachel, please. I promise you it won’t take up the whole day to get there. You don’t need to keep asking.” Quinn was getting annoyed and her tone of voice wasn’t hiding it. Rachel was like a small child on a long car journey. Scrap that, Rachel _was_ a child.

“Oh okay.” Rachel settled into silence and reached to hold Quinn’s hand as they walked. She was perfectly aware that she was probably being incredibly annoying but she needed to grasp the situation as well as she could.

“Hey, Rach?” Quinn asked tentatively.

“Yeah?”

“I know we’ve been over this before but I can’t stop thinking about how I treated you and I’m really sorr-”

“Shush.” Rachel cut her off. It took her all she had to refrain from rolling her eyes. The diva knew it’d be rude to do but she and Quinn had gone over apologies before and reached a conclusion. The blonde really didn’t need to apologise anymore. It was almost as though they’d swapped roles with asking the same question over and over again. Apart from with Quinn it was an apology and it was repeated over a longer stretch of time. “I appreciate that you’re sorry, Quinn, but I meant it when I said you’re forgiven.”

“But-” The blonde tried.

“No buts.” Rachel squeezed the blonde’s hand. “Just prove to me you’re sorry. That’s all I ask. I believe you but if you want to do something, just prove it. Today is beginning to prove it enough. This is the sweetest thing anyone’s done for me before. It shows that you care, Quinn. And that’s enough for me.”

Quinn settled with pressing a soft kiss to Rachel’s cheek as they walked. “What are you wanting to do with us when school comes around?” Quinn asked, almost afraid of Rachel’s answer.

Rachel was equally afraid. She was terrified that she’d just be some summer fling for Quinn. Of course, she knew that she wasn’t. But that didn’t stop a little niggling in the back of her head telling her that Quinn was only using her for some physical contact and she’d be discarded as soon as school rolled back around. “I’m happy with telling people. If that’s what you want to do. However, if you’re not ready to come out then that’s equally okay with me.” It really would be okay with her. But that didn’t stop her from wishing Quinn’s answer wouldn’t be the latter.

Quinn smiled. “If I’m honest, I don’t know what I am.”

“That’s okay.” Rachel reassured her.

“But I know that I like you. So..” Quinn swallowed and let out a shaky breath. “Would you be my girlfriend?”

Rachel’s jaw fell open and she stopped completely still, yanking Quinn’s arm a little as they were still holding hands. “Are you serious?”

The blonde’s face twisted in slight confusion. Why wouldn’t she be serious about that? “Yeah..”

The tiny brunette’s face lit up and a grin tore across her face. “I’d love to be your girlfriend!” Rachel cheered as she threw her arms around Quinn’s neck and kissed the blonde passionately. Unfortunately, the force of Rachel throwing herself at her girlfriend bowled the pair of them down to the ground. It left Quinn lying on her back and Rachel leaning over her. Rachel leaned forward and pressed her lips to Quinn’s once more. It was a slow kiss and meaningful. When the brunette pulled back she was slightly dazed. That hadn’t been her plan but she was most definitely not disappointed with the outcome of events.

The pair got up, blushing and brushed the dirt from the dusty path from their clothing.

Once they were back up, Quinn spoke again. “Now that this is official,” The cheerio beamed. “I’m okay about telling people about us. I mean, San and Britt are out and they’re fine so I don’t see why we won’t be.”

Rachel was hesitant. She was over the moon that Quinn would be fine with being out but her and Quinn were slightly different to Santana and Brittany. “As lovely as that sounds and as true as it is, Santana and Brittany are both incredibly popular and, well incredibly attractive girls. So no-one will argue with them and people, though mainly the boys, aren’t going to say anything to stop any of the ‘hot lesbian action’ that they might get from those two. You are also very popular and _insanely_ attractive. I, on the other hand, am the lowest of the low and I’ll ruin your reputation and I’m not pretty at all-”

“Rachel.” Quinn’s voice was stern but shaky. “I never want to hear you talk about yourself in that manner again. You’re not the lowest of the low. If anything you’re the opposite. You care about everyone no matter who they are or what they’ve done. You’re honest without being mean. You’re trustworthy. You’re everything that’s good in this world, okay?” Quinn stopped, let out a breath and softened her voice, almost to a whisper. “And Rachel, you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Not only do you have a lovely personality but your body is wonderful. I love every part of it, okay? Please don’t ever think you’re anything other than beautiful.”

Rachel was rather shocked at Quinn’s words. She was also incredibly touched. The brunette had no idea how strongly Quinn felt about her. “Thank you.” Rachel blushed.

“It’s okay. Just please believe what I say?” Quinn’s hazel eyes locked with Rachel’s mocha eyes and she tried to convey how much she wanted Rachel to believe in herself.

“Okay.” Rachel smiled up at the blonde.

“So are you okay with telling people when we go to school?”

“I’d want nothing more.”

For the remainder of their walk, they engaged in comfortable conversation, both grinning from ear to ear.

When they were coming up to their destination, Rachel miss-stepped and tripped forward. Thankfully Quinn had still been holding her hand and so kept the brunette up on her feet. Rachel chuckled, slightly embarrassed. “My hero.” She joked.

Quinn just laughed. “Yeah yeah. Come on, you big nerd, we’ve reached your surprise.” Quinn watched Rachel in apprehension, praying that Rachel would like it.

Rachel was speechless.

The first thing she saw was a smallish blue tent set up at the far side of a clearing lined with tall pine trees. The clearing was circular and was about 30m in diameter and there was no-one in sight. To the right as she looked there was a waterfall tumbling down from a twelve foot rock face into a plunge pool which led to a gentle river that was crystal clear. Rachel Berry looked at the view in awe. It was so secluded! There was so little chance of them being disturbed. How had Quinn found this place?! Rachel had been coming to the campsite for _years_ and every single one of them her fathers had been on at least one hike. “I?- You?- This?- Ours?- How?- I don’t understand?- When?-”

Quinn giggled at Rachel’s baffled face. “You okay there?”

“I don’t understand.” Quinn could see the cogs turning in the brunette’s head.

“How about we settle down for our picnic and I can explain there?” Quinn smirked. Rachel hadn’t seen the lunch spread by the plunge pool.

Rachel took off, pulling Quinn behind her so they could settle down on the red and white checked picnic blanket. “Explain.” Rachel grinned, helping herself to a sandwich.

“Okay so.” Quinn settled herself down and began telling Rachel how she’d planned it all. “When I went to my cousins’ I may have mentioned that I wanted somewhere to take someone special and they told me all about it. So they took me here to have a look around. Even though it was pretty much pitch black by the time we arrived, I knew it was perfect. They used to camp where we are when they were younger and found this place once while on a hike. That’s how I know how long it would take to get here. They also, thankfully, gave incredibly clear instructions on how to get here so we wouldn’t get lost.

“So the next day I spoke to Claudia, Julian, Fuad and Danny. They agreed to help me get things set up. So they came up last night to set the tent up and Fuad stayed overnight to set up the picnic late this morning so it would be fresh. And, in return, he gets full teasing rights. However, it’s all worth it. Especially when I saw your face because your reaction to this was way better than anything I could’ve imagined.”

“Wow.” Rachel breathed. Quinn had gone through all that for her. “This is the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me.” The brunette admitted shyly.

“One in a stream of many, I would hope.” Quinn leant back to relax after their walk up. Now they were free to do whatever they wanted without parents or friends butting in and teasing them. It would be bliss.

Rachel sat and sneaked glances as Quinn as they ate. Who would’ve thought that the blonde was a secret romantic? She certainly hadn’t. Rachel wasn’t complaining though. Honestly, she felt completely content and couldn’t wait to spend more time alone with Quinn. This was the first time she’d ever felt _wanted_ by someone. Finn didn’t seem to want her. To Rachel, it seemed he was only there to get the physical aspects of a relationship. Okay, maybe she was being a little harsh on him. He could be sweet sometimes. But then he forgot her birthday and forgot she was vegan and whenever he ‘took her out’ he would always just take her back to his. Quinn was refreshing and thoughtful. Rachel felt incredibly lucky. “You’re the best girlfriend ever.” She said. Because, in her eyes, at that moment, she was.

“I like the sound of that.”

“Being the best girlfriend? Don’t get cocky on me, Fabray.” Rachel teased.

Quinn shook her head. “Not just that part. Mainly the girlfriend bit.”

“Oh.” Rachel smiled and leaned forward towards Quinn. When she was just inches from Quinn’s lips, she breathed, “I like that you’re my girlfriend too.” And connected their lips. She teased the blonde, softly biting her lip and was surprised when Quinn returned the favour. As their kissing got heavier, Quinn laid back onto her elbows with Rachel straddling her left leg. Before she knew it, Rachel was leaning further and further into the kiss, bringing her left leg forward, pressing against Quinn’s crotch. The blonde let out a loud moan and the pair fell back, just realising what exactly was going on and what it could lead to. Rachel blushed.

“Sorry.” Quinn muttered. What was it she was sorry for though? Was it for letting things get that far so soon or for stopping their kissing? She knew it was the latter.

Rachel just shook her head. Determined to distract herself from what had just happened and to get the closest thing to a cold shower she could, Rachel grinned at the blonde. “RACE YOU INTO THE PLUNGE POOL!” And with that, she rolled off Quinn and pulled her clothes off so she could run into the pool as quickly as possible and beat the blonde.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Quinn called, defeated, as she struggled to remove her shorts. The blonde looked up to see Rachel smoothly shallow dive into the water. She sighed. There was only one thing to do. As Rachel surfaced, grinning with her win, Quinn tore off and ran at the plunge pool only to bomb just next to where Rachel was and sent a wave of water over the brunette’s head.

When Quinn resurfaced, she laughed at the pout on Rachel’s face. “All’s fair in-” she started.

“I know, I know.” Rachel huffed. “All’s fair in love and war.” The brunette swam to the edge of the pool and beckoned Quinn to follow her. “How’s this for fair?” Rachel pulled Quinn towards and kissed her. Hard. She held them together and wrapped her legs around the blonde’s waist. The cheerio moaned and Rachel smiled into the kiss, pleased that this time it didn’t stop them. When she was sure that the blonde was fully immersed in the kiss, which didn’t take long to be honest, Rachel moved suddenly and dunked Quinn under the water. She was sure to help the blonde back up, though, as she knew the danger of dunking people.

Quinn’s jaw set. “I suppose I deserved that one.” She begrudgingly admitted. “Come on, I reckon we’ve cooled down enough now. How about we dry out in the sun?” The blonde suggested. She had something planned.

The pair jumped out of the water and Quinn got Rachel settled on their blanket before running into the tent to grab something.

When she returned, Rachel saw something rectangular in her hand. Was it a book?

“Hey you.” Quinn said as she sat down. She settled so that her legs were outstretched. Patting them, she motioned for Rachel to lie down perpendicular to her and rest her head on her thighs. Rachel followed the blonde’s instructions. “I thought I might read to you.” The blonde said, shyly.

A smile spread across Rachel’s face. This was perfect. Quinn was being so sweet and lovely. This was the cutest thing anyone had done for her. Plus, reading seemed like a huge part of her girlfriend’s life and it meant a lot that she was sharing some of it with her.

“It’s called The Time Keeper and it’s by Mitch Albom.” Quinn ensured that Rachel was comfortable before she started reading. “ _A man sits alone in a cave. His hair is long. His beard reaches his knees. He holds his chin in the cup of his hands. He closes his eyes. He is listening to something. Voices. Endless voices. They rise from a pool in the corner of a cave. They are the voices of people on Earth. They want one thing only. Time.”_

Rachel let Quinn’s voice wash over her. The blonde’s voice was beautiful. It was smooth but had a rasp to it. Her voice was unbelievably sexy. In that moment, Rachel thought it was the nicest sound in the world. The heat of the sun beat down on them and Rachel found herself being lulled into a light sleep by Quinn’s soothing voice and the sun’s warm rays.

Quinn stopped reading when she heard soft snores. She smiled and closed the book, taking a mental note of where they left off. Then she lay herself down, carefully so as not to wake the sleeping beauty. It only took a few moments before she also slipped into a peaceful slumber.

They’d woken up late afternoon and spent the day relaxing together in the sun. Now it was nearing ten o’clock and the pair were sat together cuddling by the fire. Quinn had packed a packet of vegan marshmallows and chocolate digestives and they were making smores on their fire. Rachel had taught Quinn how to properly make a fire so the next time one was needed, Quinn could make one herself. While being taught, Quinn would’ve happily admitted that she was pretending she couldn’t do it for a lot longer than she was actually incapable. Could you blame her? Her girlfriend was sat between her legs and was guiding Quinn’s hands with her own. She’d be crazy to pass up that experience.

Once the fire went out, Rachel asked if they could lie under the stars for a bit. Quinn happily agreed.

“I used to do this with my dad, you know?” Quinn whispered softly.

“Yeah?” Rachel was unsure of where to take this conversation. As far as she was aware Quinn’s relationship with her father was strained at best. She didn’t want to dig too deep too early and have Quinn shut herself off. She shuffled closer so that their arms were touching and she linked their fingers together, allowing Quinn to lead where the conversation would go.

“How many constellations do you know?” Quinn assumed that Rachel knew quite a few. For some reason it seemed like something that the small brunette would know.

“Not many.” Rachel admitted. “I know Orien’s Belt but that’s all.”

Quinn was surprised but she took it to her advantage. “Shall I tell you some?” She squeezed Rachel’s hand.

Rachel smiled into the dark. Of course she wanted Quinn to tell her some. “I’d love that.”

“Can you see the stars that look kind of like a saucepan with a bent handle?” Quinn felt Rachel nod. “That’s the plough. Also known as the big dipper. Some call it Ursa Major but that’s actually only about half of Ursa Major. The rest of it,” She pointed to some stars surrounding it with her free hand. “Is there. And it looks like a big bear. Kind of.” Then she lifted their linked hands, letting her free one fall to the ground. “If you look at the far right two stars of the plough and follow the path through,” Quinn moved their hands up, pointing with Rachel’s index finger before coming to a halt. “The next star you reach is the North Star. Also known as Polaris. And that’s part of Ursa Minor. Little bear.”

“Ohh.” Said Rachel. She wasn’t too sure what to say. The night sky was beautiful and she was slightly distracted by the girl lying next to her.

“You won’t see Orien’s Belt now because that’s a winter constellation. You can, however, see Cassiopeia. That’s the one that looks like a double-u.” Quinn suddenly got the urge to say something incredibly cheesy. She was tempted to leave it but decided against that knowing that either Rachel would love it or she’d laugh. And Quinn didn’t mind either of those happening. “There’s one star I can see tonight, though, that I never got to see with my dad.”

Rachel was confused. Surely she could see _more_ stars now that she was in the middle of nowhere and not in a polluted area. “How? Where is it?”

“It’s lying next to me.” Quinn braced herself for whichever reaction would follow.

Rachel laughed. Full on belly-laughed. It was almost a guffaw. Quinn just smiled as Rachel’s body shook with giggles. Once she got her breath back, she spoke. “You are one of a kind, Quinn Fabray.”

The blonde smirked. “I kind of am.”

“Can we sleep out here tonight? Under the stars?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, of course. That’d be perfect.” Quinn rolled over for a moment to kiss Rachel’s cheek.

“This is the best day I’ve ever had. Thank you so much, Quinn.” Rachel said, graciously.

“It’s the same for me. Thank you for coming.”

“Wait.” Rachel cut over Quinn. “How did my father’s know you had a surprise for me?”

“Maybe they heard your quiet morning voice.” Quinn teased.

“No. Really, Quinn. How did they know?” Rachel was adamant she knew.

“I may have asked their permission to take you on a date last night.” Quinn was bashful.

“This is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me, Quinn. Thank you.” Rachel was astounded at how much thought Quinn had managed to put into their date. “This is the best way to spend our last night. I’m going to miss it here.” She quietly admitted.

“Me too.” Quinn whispered back. She really would. This place meant so much to her. The entire campsite. The people they met. The memories she’d have of it. It was her best summer yet. She was certain, however, that this wouldn’t be her last time visiting the campsite.

 The small diva found herself yawning. “Do you want to sleep yet?” She asked.

“That’d be lovely.” Mumbled Quinn, turning onto her side to wrap her arms around Rachel’s waist and fall asleep with her girlfriend in her arms.


	10. Leaving Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> to let you know, as things are going, the next chapter will be in school and also the last one. however, should people be wanting a lil bit more then feel free to let me know bits and bobs you want to see (my tumblr's orphellablack or just pop it in the comments bit). i can do one-shots if you want or if people are wanting a bigger more i can try to write another multi-chapter fic of them in school or their next holiday or a holiday later on then i can try to do that once exams and work experience are over :) i hope that's okay with you all :)

Quinn woke with the sun shining brightly in the sky just at the top of the trees. Her arms were still wrapped around the brunette and she was sad that she’d have to wake her up. “Hey you.” Quinn whispered into Rachel’s ear as she shook her gently. “You have to get up now.” She kissed her cheek. Rachel began to stir. “We have to leave, Rach. Today’s going home day and we still have to get back. It’s going to be a long journey home so we need to leave as soon as we can.”

“No.” Moaned Rachel. “I don’t want to get up. Nor do I want to leave this place.”

Quinn agreed. “I don’t either, sweetie, but we really have to go. I’m sorry.” She really was.

“Fine.” Rachel huffed and she got up. They shared some fruit for breakfast before brushing their teeth and getting ready to set off. “Wait, don’t we have to pack up?”

“Nope.” Quinn smiled. “Fuad and Julian will sort it when we’ve gone. It’s all sorted.”

The pair walked the majority of the way back in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. They held hands and gave gentle squeezes every now and then but all in all it was a rather melancholy walk back. Despite the sun shining down on them brightly, neither of them could really bring themselves to smile. This was it. It was the end of summer. _Their_ summer. It wasn’t where their story began but it was where it properly started. What if things would change? They were going back to school the next day. Neither of them wanted things to change but in truth, they didn’t know what the future had in stall for them. They didn’t know what school had in stall for them. How would people react? And mainly Finn. Most people would be glad for their happiness, surely. It was worth hoping for.

When they returned to their tents, their parents greeted them, also looking rather sad. “Did you have a nice time, girlies?” Leroy asked, smiling gently, really not wanting to remind them that they’d be leaving in a few hours.

“Good thanks, daddy.” Said Rachel, smiling back slightly.

Quinn spoke softly into Rachel’s ear. “Do you want to take my tent down first?”

Rachel just nodded.

It was hard for Quinn to see Rachel so subdued. She understood why Rachel was so low but she also knew that they’d be right back the following summer and god knows how many more after that. They’d also see their friends again. It wasn’t the end of the world. So Quinn decided to take it into her own hands. Once she’d got her pole out of the lining (thankfully quicker than Rachel), she didn’t dismantle it and put it in its bag straight away. Instead she used it to prod her girlfriend. Unfortunately, as Quinn found, it was rather difficult to control a pole that long and so she missed the brunette the first few times. Then, on her fourth attempt, she got her. Square in the back. Rachel’s head whipped around to reveal a scowling diva. It was pretty clear that Rachel wanted her to stop but Quinn persisted. Poke in the arm. Poke in the shoulder. Poke in the tummy. Poke in the chest.

“That is en _ough,_ Quinn Fabray!” Rachel fumed, well aware that there was no bite behind her bark. She figured that’d be enough to fool the blonde. Rachel knew that she was being a bit moody and what better way to come out of it than pulling Quinn’s leg back?

Quinn tried to hide her snicker. Rachel needed to lighten up. Everything would be fine. “You seem a bit het up, Rach. Are you okay?” The blonde teased.

“I just-” And with that Rachel Berry burst into tears.

Quinn’s face was stricken. She wanted to make the brunette smile, not cry! The cheerio rushed to Rachel’s side, crouched, wrapped her arm around Rachel’s shoulder and comforted her. “I’m really sorry, Rach. I swear the last thing I wanted to do was make you cry. I was trying to make you smile.”

Rachel hid her face behind her arms. She was perfectly fine. She was just messing with Quinn. It was hard to keep from smiling so Rachel decided to sniffle a little bit.

“Rachel, please. Look at me.” Quinn pleaded. She was distraught. All her effort was being put into making them work and proving herself to Rachel. What if she’d messed it all up? What if Rachel didn’t think they’d make it through school. It would all be her fault! “We’ll be fine, you know? This isn’t the end of us. We’ll be fine at school, I promise. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll protect you. I don’t care what people at school think. You’re my priority.”

Just then Hiram walked over and patted Quinn’s shoulder to get her attention. “I hate to interrupt this but I thought this piece of information might help you in the long run.”

Quinn’s face twisted in confusion.

“Rachel’s fake crying.”

Quinn was taken aback. “But-”

“Yeah the first few times it got us as well.” Hiram said sympathetically. “Rachel says it’s practice for later in life.”

Rachel let out a cackle.

“I’ll leave you two to it.” Hiram said, walking away.

This time it was Quinn’s head that whipped around. “Are you serious?!”

“I’m glad it was so convincing. I’ve got out of practice over summer.” Rachel grinned, clearly proud that she’d fooled her girlfriend.

“You did not just do that.” Quinn didn’t know how to feel. Was she angry that Rachel had tricked her? Yes. But was she also impressed at how real Rachel’s fake crying was? Yes. “I can’t believe you.”

“I’m one of a kind.” Rachel smirked.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Quinn teased.

“Shut up.” Rachel smiled as she leaned in to kiss Quinn.

As they pulled away, Quinn spoke. “C’mon let’s get our tents down.” And so she stood up to offer Rachel a hand to pull her up after. Then they dismantled their poles, folded up the tent and put it away in its bag to be popped in the back of the Fabray car.

Next was Rachel’s tent and it followed in a similar fashion. However, this time when the poles were removed, Rachel called for a sword fight. They laughed as they jabbed and parried. Finding that they weren’t getting anywhere, Quinn decided to take it into her hands so that she could actually gain some sort of victory other than poking Rachel a million times. Which explains why Judy came back from the toilets to find Quinn straddling over Rachel, face to face, poles in hand. At the clearing of her throat, however, Quinn pretty much fell back and rolled off, apologising to her mother profusely as Judy threw her head back and laughed.

At her reaction, though, Quinn saw that her mother was perfectly happy with her and Rachel. And so, though that could have been one of the most embarrassing moments of her life thus far, it was also a happy one as now she knew her mother would accept her as she was.

Once both tents were packed up and the pair were pretty much ready to head home, they made their way down to the lake to say goodbye to their friends.

It was an emotional affair. Danny was the first to step up and hug the pair goodbye. “Try not to miss me and my good looks too much.” He smirked and stepped back for Fuad, Theo and Claudia to say goodbye.

Theo was next. He was quiet and they hadn’t got to know him quite as much as the others but it was still sad that they wouldn’t see him for a while. When she was hugging him, Rachel whispered into his ear. “Don’t forget us, okay? We’ll all meet back here next summer. We can sort it all out so we all come at the same time. You have our numbers.” She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “Use them.”

Theo looked down shyly but nodded. He definitely wanted to keep in touch. He’d gained confidence this summer and he had no doubts that his new friends had a lot to do with it. His dad would be so proud of him. That made Theo happiest.

Upon Fuad’s goodbye, he made good use of his teasing rights. “So then ladies.” He drawled. “Did you actually get any sleep last night?” He winked at Quinn.

“Yes. Thank you, jerk.” Quinn rolled her eyes and pulled Fuad in for a hug. For the briefest moment she considered telling him he’d get along well with Santana but quickly shoved that idea away as soon as she could. That would be awful. They’d be the worst pair ever. The things they’d get up to would be enough to make anyone terrified. Quinn decided she would do whatever she could to stop the two ever meeting and creating hell on earth.

Last was Claudia. She lived closest to the girls so there was no reason for them to not meet up every so often on weekends or during other holidays. That didn’t mean it wasn’t an emotional goodbye, though. The three of them all hugged together, promising to meet up again within a month.

When Quinn and Rachel turned from waving to their friends for the last time, they choked back tears and reached for each other’s hands. Once they were about 100 yards from their friends, Quinn parted their hands and instead wrapped her arm around the brunette, pulling her into her side. It was a sign to Rachel that it was okay to cry. And she took Quinn up on that, crying genuinely this time.

They arrived back to their cars in silence, promising to text each other as soon as they got home. Quinn and Rachel promised with a light kiss before Rachel got into her car and left, waving goodbye to Quinn.

In the car it was silent. No music had been put on which was unusual for the Berrys. Hiram tried to cheer Rachel up. “We haven’t had a strict timetable given to us for today, are your organisational skills going downhill from here on out?”

“I had other things on my mind.” Rachel’s answer was short and it was clear she wanted to end the conversation there and then.

Her parents were having none of it, though. They needed to talk with Rachel about her relationship with Quinn Fabray and there was no time like the present. Leroy gingerly brought the topic up. “Yeah, about that..” He started. “Your dad and I want to talk to you about Quinn.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Rachel spoke, tight lipped.

“You’ll never want to have this conversation.” Hiram smiled. “Let’s just get it over and done with, okay?”

Rachel nodded in surrender. She hated it when her dads had serious conversations with her in the car. At home it wasn’t so bad. In the car, however, they were enclosed in a very small space and there was no way of her getting out. It wasn’t claustrophobia. Rachel didn’t know how to explain it. She just knew that she hated serious conversations in the car.

“You’re officially an item now, I assume?” Asked Leroy.

“Yep.”

“And have you discussed what will be happening when you go back to school?” He prodded further.

“Yes.”

“And you’ll be staying together?”

“Uh huh.”

“Wow Rachel.” Hiram piped up. “What’s happened to you today? Normally we can’t get you to shut up even for a few seconds.” He teased.

Rachel set her jaw. “Not now, dad.”

“Come on, Rachel-”

“Now, now, Hiram.” Leroy spoke sternly, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to give his husband a look of disapproval. “Leave our daughter alone.” He softened his tone for Rachel. “We’re just doing our job as parents, sweetheart.” Leroy apologised. “Please just see it from our side. We’re over the moon that you’ve found someone to be with. However, at the start of the holiday you were adamant that you’d avoid Quinn at all costs. Can you see why we’re a little concerned?”

“I suppose I can..” Rachel didn’t sound too certain though.

Hiram chose to speak this time. “We really like Quinn, Rachel. She seems perfect for you. And Judy is lovely which is brilliant for us too. But we can’t just forget the past that you two had together. It seems you may have done.”

“I most certainly haven’t.” Rachel was almost angry at the concept. “Quinn has apologised to me on numerous occasions and I’m giving her a second chance. I believe her and I trust her. Trust my judgement, please.” She requested.

“Okay.” Her fathers gave in.

“However,” Hiram started, making Rachel expel a loud sigh. “We will be doing the fatherly thing of talking with Quinn about her intentions.”

“It’s a deal if it’s only one of you. I don’t want both of you there intimidating her and scaring her off.” Rachel stated.

“Deal.” Her fathers said in unison.

For the rest of the journey, Rachel settled ready for sleep with her head against the window, already counting down the moments until she’d see Quinn again.

Rachel awoke when they arrived back home. Begrudgingly, she helped her dads bring in the bags and tents for her fathers to put them away under the house, in the cellar. After that, Rachel raced upstairs to grab her phone. Before going away she had hidden it behind her books on her shelf to hide it in case they were burgled while camping. Praying that it hadn’t lost all its charge, as she knew it would take _forever_ to turn back on again if that was the case. Thankfully, it turned straight on and still had 21% left. She thanked god and ran to get her charger before she forgot. As soon as she had it plugged in, she fired off a quick message to Quinn.

_Hey, you. I hope you got home safe <3 xxx_

Then she turned to check her messages from texts and various forms of social media. An alarming amount were from Finn. They all followed a similar pattern.

_hey babe i miss u. wht r u wearing?_

She sighed. She didn’t bother responding. They were over and she’d told him enough to leave her alone.

Then there was a message from Puck.

_Wassup my Jewish princess! I hate to ask a favour but can you message finn back? he’s my bro and everything but he just won’t chill. Thanks hot stuff._

She ignored that one too. There were a few from Kurt and Mercedes wondering if she wanted to join them for a sleepover. She could explain tomorrow at school why she didn’t reply. It was too late now.

Just then her phone vibrated. It was a message from Quinn.

_Hey, Rach :) Yeah, me and mum just got back. It was a quicker journey than our way up. How was your journey? xxx_

The brunette fired a message straight back.

_It was fine, thank you :) my dads grilled me about our relationship though.. They’re cool with everything though it’s okay xxx_

Rachel was settled on her bed with her phone resting on her chest, ready for the blonde’s reply.

_My mum did the same with me! Luckily it’s smiles all around! Xxx_

Rachel received another message from Quinn almost immediately after the last.

_It’s getting late now, though. And I’m sure you’re just as tired as me. So shall I pick you up at 7:30 tomorrow? Xxx_

The brunette, too, was tiring and so agreed happily, ready to fall asleep.

_Sounds great! I’ll see you in the morning, sweet dreams, Quinn <3 xxx_

A few seconds later Quinn’s reply came through.

_Well then I guess we have a plan, Stan. I’ll see you in the morning <3 sweet dreams, beautiful xxx_

Rachel read over Quinn’s text a few times, smiling, before putting her phone to the side so she could sleep. Tomorrow could be a hectic day, so they both needed all the rest they could get. The tiny diva fell asleep imagining a million possibilities of how school could go the following day.


	11. Back to School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, this is the last one! thank you for reading and sticking with me :) i hope it's been worth the ride and you've enjoyed it!
> 
> P.s. my apologies on it being a day late. I wasn't well yesterday and couldn't get this up

It was the first morning of school and Rachel woke at her usual 6 o’clock. Today it was unlike most, however, as it was the first time she’d woken up missing someone beside her. There was no Quinn next to her this morning. Rachel wished she hadn’t got so used to sleeping next to the blonde. It seemed so natural and now, without it, something was definitely missing. Namely, Quinn. She shook off the slight loneliness, though, as she’d be seeing the blonde soon enough. Rachel quickly had a go on her elliptical for twenty minutes at a fast pace before jumping into the shower to wash before the school day began.

When the brunette got out, she saw she’d received a text. It was from Quinn.

_Hey, Rach :) I hope you slept well! I can pick you up to take you to school, if you’d like xxx_

Rachel stood in her towel as she typed out a quick response.

_Good morning, Quinn. I had an acceptable sleep, thank you. Did you? And the lift sounds like a wonderful idea, thank you xxx_

Once she hit send, Rachel dressed herself in a navy blue dress with white spots and a white cardigan. Her black flats would do for shoes that day. As she was eating her breakfast, another text came from Quinn.

_It was okay. I missed you though. I’ll be there in fifteen to pick you up :) xxx_

Rachel fired a text back to confirm and went upstairs to finish drying her hair, brush it and brush her teeth. No sooner than fifteen minutes later was Rachel ready and the doorbell was rang by Quinn. Running downstairs, the brunette shouted a farewell to her dads. She opened the door to see a fresh faced Quinn with her hair pulled back and dressed in her cheerleading skirt and top. Rachel gulped. Well. She had to say, Quinn didn’t look half bad in her uniform. In fact, Rachel was ready to jump her there and then. Of course, that would be completely and utterly inappropriate. And Rachel was aware she still hadn’t greeted her girlfriend and Quinn was looking at her, trying to search for a reason why the brunette hadn’t spoken yet. So the diva stretched up onto her tiptoes and pecked Quinn’s lips in greeting. “Good morning.” She blushed.

“Good morning to you too.” The blonde grinned. “Are you ready to go?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Rachel sighed lightly as she walked towards Quinn’s car to get into the passenger seat. When Quinn started the car, Rachel spoke once more. “Are you still sure about this?” She asked.

“Sure about what?” Quinn’s eyes were focused on the road but the brunette could see the blonde’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“You know,” Rachel prompted. “Us? Us at school?”

Quinn smiled lightly. “Yes I’m sure. Sure about us _and_ sure about us at school.” Her voice was kind and warm. She didn’t want Rachel thinking that she was doubting her.

“I’m glad.” Rachel wasn’t just glad. Rachel was over the moon. Of course, she was also a little bit apprehensive. What would people say? What would people do? _God,_ what would _Finn_ do? She needed to let Quinn know about Finn before the oaf said something. “I have something to warn you about before we get to school though.”

The blonde looked worried. “Is everything okay?”

“Finn’s been texting me.”

Quinn set her jaw and gritted out, “What?”

“While we were away. I didn’t reply when I saw them last night though. I think he wants something to happen. Nothing will happen. I’m happiest with you. But just know he might end up saying something.” Rachel braced herself for a fuming Quinn but was surprised when nothing malicious fell from her lips.

“You’re not his anymore, Rach.” Her voice was timid. “I’m not going to be a possessive overbearing girlfriend but I won’t let him do anything that’ll make you uncomfortable.”

Rachel smiled. She had to. Quinn was being so sweet and it made her heart flutter. “Thank you.” She whispered as they peeled in to park the car just outside school. “Well, we’re here. Are you ready, Fabray?”

The blonde released a slow breath. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

They got out of the car and joined at the hip almost immediately. “Race you there?” Rachel teased.

Her girlfriend felt a smile tug at her lips. “Maybe together for now?”

“Together it is.” Rachel held Quinn’s hand and they walked through the doors of McKinley hand in hand.

It was weird. Everyone was staring at them. Rachel liked attention but she wasn’t sure about this kind. Did Quinn always get this much attention? Did everyone always part for her this much as she went down the corridor? It was definitely convenient. Although maybe it was because she was with the cheerleader that they got this much attention.

Quinn saw it coming and moved before Rachel even knew what was happening.

In a moment things had gone from okay to Quinn standing in front of her, drenched in a blue slush and was seething. Her voice was icy, cold, clear and commanding. “From now on no-one touches Rachel. She is off limits. If any of you,” Her eyes scanned the hall, making eye contact with each and every person present. “so much as lay a finger on her, You’ll have me to answer to.” Sharply, she turned to the offender who had thrown the ice drink at her. “As for you, what do you think you were doing?”

“I j-just-” He stuttered.

“Spit it out, Karofsky we haven’t got all day.

“She looked like she was getting close to you and you don’t normally like that happening. Plus, slushying Berry the first day back has kind of become tradition.”

“Traditions are made to be broken.” Quinn’s eyes were steely and empty. “And what if I like her being that close to me?”

“She was holding your hand, Quinn. That’s a bit…”

“A bit, what?” Quinn raised an eyebrow, wondering if the boy was stupid enough say it.

“Gay.”

Oh. So he was stupid enough to say it. Great. “That may be so. But at least she pulled this summer. Unlike you. I’m guessing your only pulling over vacation was between your right hand and your dick so, if I were you, I’d keep your mouth shut.”

And Karofsky did just that. Well, he didn’t say anything but his mouth was gaping in shock. He was gobsmacked. One because, did Quinn just come out? Two, was she going out with Rachel Berry? And three, He had dug himself into a hole he’d never be able to escape and he was going to end up in big trouble.

“Oh and Karofsky?” Quinn called over her shoulder as she and Rachel walked towards the changing rooms. “Coach Sylvester won’t be happy that you’ve ruined a cheerleading outfit.”

The girlfriends walked to the changing rooms in silence. Then, as soon as they were through the door and certain that they were alone, Rachel began fussing over Quinn. “Are you okay? We need to get you into something dry immediately! And we need to wash this out of your hair, let’s go to the sinks.” The brunette dragged a silent blonde to the sinks and brought her a spare uniform. “Get changed, okay? And then I’ll wash your hair for you.” Rachel left Quinn to change with a kiss on the cheek.

Quinn whispered her thanks and composed herself as she changed. She was still slightly in shock from the impact of the ice drink. However, by the time she called Rachel back around, she was back to regular Quinn.

Rachel smiled, thankful that Quinn was fine again. “You’re lucky we have glee club first. Mr Schue won’t mind us being late.”

“Yeah but you know everyone will find out before we get there.” Quinn paused then thought out loud. “I wonder what everyone will have to say about us.”

Rachel imagined it and it brought a smile to her face. The people in that club were completely different from each other and she was sure they’d elicit completely different reactions.

For the remaining time it took to wash the blonde’s hair, Quinn and Rachel stayed in idle chitchat before they were ready to greet their friends once more.

Santana was the first to notice Quinn and Rachel at the door and she didn’t half make their appearance known. “Ahh,” She sighed. “The queers of the moment are here! Fashionably late, I see. Good afternoon, Queen Fabgay.” Then she nodded at Rachel. “Hobbit.” Quinn’s jaw clenched at the insult thrown at her girlfriend.

Rachel, however, got in there first to tick the brunette off for not using Quinn’s real name. “That was completely unnecessary, Santana. You of all people should know not to use people’s sexuality to offend someone.”

Santana just laughed.

Rachel stomped her foot and Quinn suppressed a giggle. Her girlfriend was way too dramatic for her own good. “Well then. From now on I’ll be calling you Satan.”

To Rachel’s surprise, Santana looked mildly impressed. “Touché, Berry. Maybe we can make something of you yet.”

Next, Kurt stepped forward. “So it is true?”

Rachel squeezed Quinn’s hand and smiled at the blonde.

Quinn smiled in return then turned to Kurt. “It is.”

“Well I never saw that coming.” He said in disbelief. “I need to get my gaydar in check. Congratulations on your relationship, though.” He said sincerely. Then his tone changed to teasing. “But I have a feeling you’ll be a terrifying lesbian power couple so remind me not to cross you two.”

“Oh we will, Hummel.” Quinn smirked. She was happy. So far all was good. Those that she cared about seemed to not mind. Brittany hadn’t said anything yet but she was smiling away in the corner. Not that Quinn had any doubts, however. Brittany would always be cool with whatever.

Then Finn stepped up. “But- You two? I don’t understand. You can’t be gay. I went out with both of you.”

“Yeah you may not wanna make that fact too well known, man.” Puck smirked, his arms crossed across his chest as he slumped back in his chair. “You don’t want to be known for turning the chicks gay, dude.”

Thankfully Puck had shut Finn up and Quinn was happy that she wouldn’t have to interfere.

Quinn was interrupted from her thoughts when Puck spoke up. “I’m glad you’re happy together. Next time you’re getting happy together, can I watch?”

“NO!” Shouted Quinn and Rachel in unison.

“In your dreams, Noah.” Rachel carried on. “Do I need to remind you that Finn isn’t the only person in this room who’s been with both me and Quinn?” Now it was Rachel’s time to smirk as Puck tried to shake the comment off.

Mercedes spoke up to prevent an argument starting up. “I’m happy for you guys.”

And then the remaining members Tina, Artie and Mike gave their congratulations before Mr Schuester stepped in. “Congratulations guys, but for now we need to get on with the lesson.” He ushered the pair to their seat and began talking about the week’s theme – new starts. Presumably to do with starting a new academic year. No-one really paid attention to the real reason, though. They were too busy quietly catching up after a long summer and trying to work out if they’d missed hints that Quinn and Rachel liked each other before their time off school.

In the back, Santana and Brittany were sat behind Quinn and Rachel. They heard Brittany ask Santana something excitedly. “San, because Quinn is finally lady friends with Rachel, does that mean that we can double date?”

It took all they could to not burst out laughing when Santana quickly hushed Brittany’s idea. “I’m afraid not, Britts. They only just got together, they probably won’t want to go out with anyone else yet.”

Quinn smirked as she turned, ready to stir things up already. “Hey Brit, did I hear you mention something about double dating?” At the blonde’s enthusiastic head nod, Quinn carried on. “Me and Rach would love to! What do you think Rach?”

Rachel was stuck. All she wanted was to keep on Santana’s good side but then Quinn _was_ her girlfriend and teasing Santana _did_ seem like a too good of a chance to pass up. “Of course! We’ll plan something as soon as we can!”

The mischief makers turned back to the front, supressing their giggles and ignoring the daggers that Santana was shooting at them. They were happy. Things would be okay after all.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> faberry week has come for the last time and brought around a 'vacation' day. so i decided to use it to write an epilogue for this fic.
> 
> enjoyyy!!

"Quuuiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnn." Rachel whined. "Where are we going? We've been in the car for five hours now."

Quinn just laughed as she pulled into a layby. "Don't be so impatient. This is a surprise."

"Well then at least tell me why we've stopped. We stopped at the gas station less than ten minutes ago. I can't think what you need." Rachel huffed. She really did love surprises but she was always so keen to find out what they are before it's time.

"We've stopped," Quinn started, taking her scarf off, "because we're almost there. And I need to blindfold you so that you don't get any clues."

Rachel's jaw dropped. "Are you actually serious?"

"Deadly serious, Rach." Quinn smirked at her girlfriend before wrapping the scarf around Rachel's head so that the brunette couldn't see. "I swear I'll make it worth your while." The blonde then leaned across to peck Rachel on the lips. "I promise you'll love it."

"I better do." Rachel paused before a cheeky grin etched across her face. "Hey, Quinnie?"

"Yes?" Quinn answered with caution. The diva's tone of voice could only mean mischief and that could only mean annoyance for herself.

"Are we nearly there yet?" The brunette sing-songed.

"Clearly we are. I literally said a few moments ago that we're almost there." Quinn tried to sound firm but the smile in her voice gave it away. "Give over, Rach."

"Finnnneee-uuhhh." Rachel moaned.

Part of Quinn hated surprising Rachel. During the lead up to it, she was the biggest pain in the backside. Ever. But the reaction always made up for it.

"I know!" Shouted Rachel, clapping her hands together a couple of times. "Let's play I-Spy!" She grinned.

Quinn snorted. "Go on then, you big nerd. You go first."

Rachel giggled. "I spy with my little eye something beginning with n."

The blonde let out a sigh. "Rach, are you making things up in your head? Because you know full well I'll never be able to guess what goes on in your head."

"Not this time, Quinn."

"Well then I can't think of anything. You can't  _see_ anything so you therefore can't  _spy_  anything."

"Exactly." Grinned Rachel. "Do you give up?" She taunted.

"I-" Giving up was the last thing Quinn wanted to do. Rachel would hold it over her head for eternity. But then she really had no clue what to say. And she really couldn't be bothered to make a dozen mindless answers. Especially when she knew they wouldn't get her any closer to the actual answer. "Okay, I give up."

"Nothing, Quinn." Rachel grinned and then raised her voice, jokingly shouting at her girlfriend. "I see  _nothing_  because you've BLINDFOLDED ME." The brunette crossed her arms and huffed.

"Oh my god." Quinn groaned. "I think I'm dating a child."

"Don't be silly." Rachel lightly chastised.

Then Quinn had an idea. They were rounding the corner to their destination. "My turn. I spy with my little eye something beginning with t."

Not that anyone could see, but Rachel rolled her eyes. "Really, Quinn?"

"Really, honey." Quinn smiled. "Take a guess."

"Tree?"

Quinn shook her head. Then realised that Rachel couldn't see the action. "No."

"Tyre?"

"Nope."

"Tarmac?"

"Not even close."

"Quuiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn." Rachel moaned.

Quinn smirked. "Does that mean you give up?"

"Fine." Rachel answered in an irritated short manner.

"Tents." Quinn looked to Rachel and despite not being able to see most of her face, it was clear that she was confused and trying to work things out. The blonde parked the car. Then she got out of the car to let her girlfriend out. Once Rachel was out? the blonde gently remove the scarf that was covering Rachel's eyes.

Once Rachel's eyes had adjusted, her jaw dropped. "Holy shit." She whispered.

"Children aren't supposed to use that kind of language, Rachel." Quinn grinned at her girlfriend's face. It was a beautiful picture of surprise.

"Is this?.."

"Mmhmm." Quinn hummed in response.

Rachel threw herself at her girlfriend. "I love you so much!" Stepping back, the brunette took a sweeping look around. It was exactly how she remembered it. She and Quinn had been to the campsite twice after their first time being there the summer they got together. After that, university had taken up most of their time. Then they'd been too wrapped up starting new lives together to think about going away anywhere. Now it was nine years after they'd been for the first time. "Where are our pitches?"

Quinn pressed her lips together trying to suppress a smile ."Would you believe me if I told you that we had the exact same pitches as the first time?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Quinn. "I'd say that it would be a highly unlikely occurrence."

"Then I'd say that your girlfriend is a keeper because she's managed the almost impossible." Now Quinn let the grin spread right across her face. "Come on. We'll get back in the car and I can drive us to the pitches."

When they were back in the car, Rachel began asking a million questions a minute. "How long have you been planning this? How were you so sneaky? I couldn't have even guessed that you'd planned this. Where are the tents? I know that we didn't pack any. In fact we haven't got any camping stuff. Will we even be able to camp?"

"Woah!" Quinn interrupted so that Rachel couldn't ask anything else. "One question at a time, please."

"Sorry." Rachel apologised meekly. "When did you plan all of this?"

Quinn tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in thought. "Mentally, I've been planning this for several years. But I only got it completely organised about five months ago."

"And you kept it secret for that long?" Rachel asked, shocked. It was hard for Quinn to keep anything from her girlfriend. The brunette was impressed to say the least. A lot of willpower must have gone into the vacation.

"It seems so." Quinn nodded. "I almost blurted it out a couple of times. Quite a few times in the past week, actually. I'm surprised I managed to keep it from you."

"Me too." Rachel agreed. She hummed, trying to remember what her next question was. "Where's all the camping gear?"

"Ahaaa." The blonde smiled knowingly and tapped the side of her nose. "I have my connections."

"Who?"

"My family still live nearby. You can see the others by our tent." Quinn turned the car into the field so she could park up just behind their tent.

Rachel squinted her eyes trying to make out who the group of people were by their tents. Once she realised who it was, she whipped her head in Quinn's direction. "Are you trying to give me deja vu?"

"That wasn't my intention, no." The blonde laughed. She had invited their friends from their first camp. Over the years, they'd stayed in close contact despite their distance from one another. They were all there by the tents. Claudia, Fuad, Julian and Danny. In appearance, they had all grown. Fuad hadn't grown too much but he still towered over them. Julian had caught up with Danny and they were both the same height at just under six foot. Surprisingly there was another couple in the group. Claudia and Danny had been together on and off throughout college but now they'd been together for a steady three years. As the group of friends saw the car, they waved to the couple.

"You made it on time!" Julian smiled in greeting. "We thought you'd be late without Rachel's planning."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Just because Rachel's organised about everything doesn't mean I'm not capable of it too." She got out of the car and went to hug him in greeting. "Hello to you too."

"Hello Q-bear." He replied as they pulled out of the hug. It was a nickname that came from their last year of camping together. Quinn had suddenly acquired an unusual temporary fear of bears and thought that the animals were everywhere.

Rachel and Quinn went around greeting everyone and catching up on idle chit-chat. The plan was to separate for a few hours. Then, at dusk they'd all meet up around a campfire. They all knew exactly where it would be without discussion. It would be at their spot by the lake.

And so, at dusk, everyone made their way down to the lake with marshmallows and biscuits (all vegan friendly for Rachel) to make s'mores over the fire. Quinn and Rachel meandered down and arrived to find both Julian and Fuad already there, chatting over a few beers. The women settled on a log next to theirs and snuggled close together. "Where's Clauds and Danny?" Rachel asked.

Fuad and Julian shared an awkward look. It was Julian who explained, somewhat embarrassed. "They're just finishing some… business in their tent."

"Ah." The couple nodded in understanding.

"He means they're doing the frick frack." Fuad stage whispered unnecessarily, covering one side of his mouth with his hand.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that, Fuad." She replied sarcastically. "I had no idea what Julian meant. I'm so glad you elaborated."

"Now, now, children." Rachel chastised jokingly. Then she caught sight of Claudia and Danny making their way down to the lake. "Be quiet now, though. I can see them."

Of course Fuad didn't listen. Instead, he called out to the couple. "GOOD TO KNOW YOU TWO ARE STILL AT IT!"

Rachel shook her head. There was no point in trying to stop him. She'd learnt a long while ago that Fuad would do what he wanted. Especially when Quinn was there. Those two, if up to something mischievous together, were a nightmare. She liked to keep them from being alone together as much as possible.

Danny and Claudia joined the four, sitting on the third log together. Claudia blushed, knowing that now everyone in a three mile radius knew what her and Danny had just been doing. Danny felt no shame, though and just grinned at his friends. "Sorry we're a bit late, guys." He said, voice completely unapologetic. "We got uhh.." He looked to the side of him to Claudia. "A little bit tied up."

That earned him a light slap to the bicep from his girlfriend. "Shut up, Dan. We are sorry we're late. However, to make up for it…" Claudia reached into her bag to pull something out. "We brought food!" In her hand was a packet of hotdog buns and some Quorn sausages.

"I guess I can forgive your lateness." Fuad teased, walking around to take the sausages from her so he could put them on a skewer and roast them over the fire.

Within minutes, they were all chatting and laughing about their previous camping trips. A bike ride when the boys hadn't realised there was a river at the bottom of a hill they were racing down. They'd ended up flying in over the handlebars head first. Luckily no harm was done. There were other times like when a group of raccoons sneaked their way into Danny's tent and stole his secret stash of nuts. Or when they went hiking and got lost and a five year old gave them directions back to the campsite right away.

When it turned half eleven, everyone was getting sleepy and so they all retired to their tents. Everyone but Rachel knew what a big day it was going to be when they woke up.

Waking up the following day wasn't the most pleasant experience for Quinn and Rachel. The blonde had requested, during the planning of the trip, that they come to wake the pair up on the first morning. Unfortunately she hadn't specified that she wanted a nice waking up. And so, at half past eight, their friends circled their tent chanting and banging pots and pans together.

Rachel woke with a start, sitting bolt upright at the noise. When she realised where she was and who was making the racket, she slithered out of her sleeping bag and stomped outside. "Will. You. Shut. Up." That just made them make more noise. So Rachel raised her voice and boy could she shout. "I SWEAR TO GOD YOU BETTER SHUT UP. THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE ON THIS CAMPSITE WHO WON'T APPRECIATE THIS EITHER."

That made them stop. Thank god.

"Sorry. We had orders from Quinn to wake you guys up." Fuad used as an excuse.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "And she asked you to wake us up like that?"

The four mischief makers looked at each other shiftily. "Yes?" Julian answered, clearly meaning no

"I thought as much." Rachel turned to go back into the tent. The dew had made her bare feet cold and wet. "I'll be out in a few minutes with Quinn when we've changed."

No less than a few minutes later, the pair exited the tent, eyes still bleary from sleep. "So from my understanding," Rachel said. "We're going on a hike today and we need to set off ASAP?" Everyone nodded in agreement. They settled down in some folding chairs to eat some fruit before they left. "Where is it we're going? I can't remember you telling me."

"It's another surprise." Quinn smiled apologetically. Not so much in Rachel's direction. It was directed more so at those with them. Rachel was the most impatient person in the world when it came to surprises. It almost made Quinn want to stop surprising her. Almost.

Thanks to Rachel, everyone was up and ready (but not necessarily raring) to go. They set off walking in pairs with Quinn and Rachel taking the lead, Fuad and Julian behind, and Danny and Claudia following just behind them. Each were carrying their own conversation. Then, when they stepped off the path to get to their destination, Rachel stopped in her tracks. "Quinn?" She turned to her girlfriend. "I think I recognise the way."

"Oh?" Quinn commented, acting aloof, carrying on walking.

Rachel followed her and everyone started working. "We're a few minutes from where we had our first date."

Quinn stayed silent.

"I knew it." The smile on the brunette's face was one that was rarely beaten in size. It was the smile she wore when she was right. "If we just walk a bit further..." Rachel skipped ahead, now completely sure of their whereabouts. "There should be a clearing.." Then she reached the treeless area. It was exactly how she remembered it. Tall trees surrounding it at every side apart from where they entered it. The tall waterfall on the right as you look from the opening. Rachel turned back to Quinn and her friends. "This is the best surprise ever. Thank you guys."

Claudia shrugged. "You don't need to thank us, Rach." She nodded her head in Quinn's direction, smiling.. "This is all your girlfriend's doing."

"But!" Interrupted Danny. "She wouldn't have been able to do it without our help so it was no problem." He winked cockily at Rachel only for her to roll her eyes at him.

Claudia elbowed her boyfriend. He was always so overly self-confident. She knew that it was an act and he wasn't actually quite so cocky but for those who didn't know him, often saw him in a negative light because of it. He was much more bearable when modest. "Who's up for a small game of soccer?" she asked, trying to hint at him that she discouraged the quality.

"I'm up for it!" Julian grinned. He'd come out of his shell a lot over the past few years. It came with gaining independence. In that time he'd also excelled in sports. Julian was a valued team member on whatever sport he played. He recognised his talent and used it to encourage and train others. Across many schools that he coached in, he was very much a role model. Lots of students wanted to reach his level and he set a good example by being a team player and not being selfish.

"I'll play." Fuad grinned. He was always up for sport. Football wasn't his strong suit but it wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy it. He often played five aside games to distract himself from his stressful work for the police.

"I'm in if Rachel's in." Quinn looked to her girlfriend.

"We'll be playing, then." Rachel took off her rucksack and placed it at the far end of the clearing. She then moved Quinn's bag and put it five foot away from her own to create one set of goal posts.

Danny jogged to do the same with his rucksack while Claudia fetched the ball from her bag before creating another set of goal posts. "Girls against guys?" She suggested.

Her boyfriend nodded in agreement. Claudia was good for him. And he was well aware of how lucky he was. Over the time they'd been together she'd helped him become a much better person. She hadn't changed him but rather helped him to see his better qualities so that he could make them larger parts of his personality.

"Do we  _have_  to do boys against girls?" Rachel pouted. "It isn't fair."

"Oh?" Fuad's voice took on a tone that was made for winding people up. "Are you saying that girls are worse than guys at sport?"

"Of course I'm not." Rachel was indignant. "I'm just saying because Julian was offered a spot for a professional team."

"I don't knowwwww..." Fuad kept winding her up. "But I'll let you believe that."

Quinn came up behind Rachel and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just leave this one, Rae. He's just trying to get a rise out of you." She whispered in her ear.

The brunette visibly relaxed and murmured a thank you to Quinn. "All right." Rachel spoke up. "Boys v girls let's go!"

And so a game followed. With so few people in the game it was very much a goal here and a goal there kind of match. When the six began to tire, Danny called, "Last goal winner!" And then it got competitive.

Rachel had the ball at that point. She passed it smoothly to Claudia, sending out encouragement. "Easy passes, girls, easy passes."

When Danny got close to Claudia, she passed it back to Rachel. Rachel gave it one touch and the ball went straight to Quinn. The blonde kicked it forward, heading closer to the goal.

"MAN ON!" Claudia shouted but it was a moment too late. Quinn got tackled.

Fuad ran forward with the ball. Quinn couldn't catch him up. Rachel went in for a tackle but he knocked the ball past her, just out of her reach. He was ten yards from the goal. He took the shot. It was on target. Last minute, Claudia slid across the grass feet first. She deflected the goal! Quinn ran towards the ball. Just as she was getting closed down by Julian, she passed the ball to Rachel. Her path was clear. She made the run for it. Five meters off the goal she made the shot. It went in! The girls had won!

The men fell to their knees, pretending to be devastated by their loss. The ladies, on the other hand, celebrated by running in circles with their hands in the air. Claudia whipped off her t-shirt and shorts, leaving her in her bikini. Rachel and Quinn followed suit and, with a nod, the three ran to jump into the plunge pool beneath the waterfall. Moments later, the men's shirts were off too and they sprinted to the pool, Danny beelining for Claudia, Julian for Rachel and Julian for Quinn. At the water's edge, they jumped, tucked, and hit the water with a huge splash just a foot away from each girl. The splashes were met with loud screams and splashes back.

When they were even, they decided to get back out again. It was nice to cool down after their game but they were all rather hungry. So out they got to eat the pre-prepared sandwiches.

The combination of food, heat and fatigue made the friends' eyelids heavy and they settled down for an afternoon nap.

An hour later, Rachel woke up. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was five o'clock. She decided to wake the others as they'd never get any sleep later. It had been decided that both her and Quinn would sleep there under the stars and the others would head back to camp. If they wanted to be back in plenty of light, they probably needed to set off soon anyway. So Rachel wandered to where Quinn was lying. Making sure none of the others were up, she woke her girlfriend up the best way she knew how. Kissing. The brunette kissed Quinn on her cheeks and halfway down her jawline before she woke up.

The blonde woke with a moan. Then she remembered others were there and started whining sleepily. "You can't wake me up like that when others are here. That's not fair."

Rachel grinned. "They'll have gone soon. They need to get to camp before it's dark. Help me wake them up?"

"Anything to get in your pants." Quinn joked, winking.

The pair woke their four friends up and they were ready to leave within ten minutes. Quinn whispered something into Julian's ear that Rachel didn't quite catch. All she managed to hear was his reply of "good luck". That was confusing. Rachel had no idea what that could have been in relation to. She'd have to ask Quinn later.

Once they'd waved their friends off until they were out of sight, Quinn turned to Rachel. "Hey uhmm..." She suddenly sounded incredibly nervous. "Do you want to go on a quick walk? It's not too far."

"Yeah sure." Rachel agreed, moving to put on some shoes. "Are you okay? You seem a little shaky."

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Quinn attempted to reduce her worry but her inability to make eye contact with the brunette made her reply hard to believe. She held her hand out to Rachel. "Shall we go?"

Rachel took her hand. "Yeah, let's go."

The couple walked in silence, Quinn's breathing uneven.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rachel asked concerned. "We can go back to the clearing. I don't want you to faint in a forest. You've had a lot of sun today. Is that what it is?"

"No, it's nothing like that!" Quinn was quick to rid that idea. "I'm just thinking."

"Thinking?" Rachel was a little nervous now. Quinn had stopped walking. What was she thinking about? Was everything okay?

The blonde wiped her clammy hands on her shorts. "Yeah, thinking." She let out a deep breath. "Do you recognise where we are?"

"We're on the route between the campsite and the clearing." Rachel said, incredibly confused.

"Think harder than that." Quinn willed Rachel to remember. "What happened here the first time we got to this spot."

"Ooooh." A smile spread across Rachel's face. "I remember. We were on a date and you asked if I'd be your girlfriend. I was so happy that I ran into a hug and hit you to the ground." The brunette chuckled at the memory. "That was a great kiss as well."

Quinn was so relieved that Rachel had remembered. That made things so much easier. "Well, since this is such a substantial place for us both for firsts, I thought that there was no better place for this." Quinn reached into her back pocket to get out a black case and got down on one knee, trying not to laugh at her girlfriend's shocked face. She opened the small box. "Rachel Barbra Berry. You are the light of-"

"Yes." Rachel was nodding at an alarming speed, her hands covering her nose and mouth in shock, tears making tracks down her cheeks.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that answer." Tears fell from Quinn's eyes too. "But I've planned a whole speech..."

"Sorry!" Rachel smiled meekly. "Do carry on."

"It's no problem. I know you get a bit carried away during big moments." The blonde smiled fondly up at Rachel. "As I was saying, you are the light of my life. Gold stars are your thing. They always have been. It may have started out as a metaphor but you have become my star. You bring me light when times are dark. When I'm with you I feel warm and fuzzy. I will never forget the first summer we had together here. You opened my eyes so much. And since then, you've helped me be a better me. You mean the world to me, Rachel." Quinn paused to wipe a tear away. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you so, so,  _so_  much. Rachel Barbra Berry, love of my life. Will you marry me?"

"... I can answer now, right?" Rachel checked.

Quinn nodded tearily. "You can answer now."

"YES!" Rachel threw herself at Quinn, arms around her neck. They both ended up lying on the floor side by side but neither of them minded.

"Can I put the ring on?"

Rachel nodded and Quinn slipped it onto her finger. It was beautiful. The ring was silver with a single diamond. The ring around the diamond was silver bands intertwined to make a pattern almost like a royal stamp. "Oh Quinn.." Rachel gasped, admiring the ring and its perfect fit. "It's gorgeous." She met Quinn's eyes. "I love you."

Quinn leant in to press her forehead to Rachel's. "I love you too." She caught Rachel's top lip between hers as she kissed her slowly. Rachel's tongue traced her teeth before entering her mouth. Both of their eyes were closed, just allowing them to enjoy the feel and the taste of their fiancée.

The blonde was the first to pull back. "I hate to ruin the moment but I promised I'd ring Julian straight away so him and the gang can know what's happened.

"That's fine." Rachel smiled. She doubted her grin would leave for a long time now. "So long as that's all and we can go back to just us afterwards.

"Of course." Quinn granted her fiancée's wish. She pulled out her phone to put it on speakerphone. It was answered right away with a single question from Julian.

"Wassup Q-bear, what did she say?"

"I SAID YES!" Rachel shouted and was met with deafening shouts of congratulations from their friends.

After a minute or so of congratulations and small details, Claudia spoke up. "We'll let you go now. We're so happy for you. You deserve to be happy."

Quinn and Rachel thanked her quietly before hanging up the phone.

"Back to the clearing?" Quinn asked.

"I'd love to." Rachel held the blonde's hand and they started walking back. "When it's dark, can we watch the stars?"

"We can do whatever you want to do." Quinn smiled and kissed the top of Rachel's head. This was the happiest she had ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there you have it, friends :) thank you once again for reading! i hope this has been a good last update :)


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